“We are happy with today’s decision. The Obama EPA has been acting like a schoolyard bully. It has routinely broken the laws, ignoring the limits to its authority established by Congress and usurping theauthority of the states to determine their own environmental standards.

“In doing so, they have run roughshod over anything or anyone. They have destroyed jobs at a time when millions across this country are desperate to find work.  They have tried to impose a regulatory regime thatamounts to forced economic suicide for this country. 

The following individuals have agreed to chair the designated primaryoperations committees:

Environmental & Technical:  JohnMcDaniel of Arch Coal

Health & Safety: Terry Hudson of PatriotCoal

Public Relations:  Sarah Smith of AlphaNatural Resources

Government Affairs:  Gary Whiteof James River Coal/International ResourcePartners

The 6th Friends of Coal Bowl is set for September 1stin Morgantown, WV – registration forms for theWaterfront Hotel and the official WVCA registration form have been distributedand responses are being returned.

The Waterfront Hotel in Morgantownwill be headquarters for the Friends of Coal Bowl.

Wewill be doing a few things a little differently at this year’s Coal Bowl.  TheTechnical Session that was scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday has been changed toa Membership Meeting that will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday.  There will not be a golf outing, as originally indicated.  Fridayevening at 6 p.m. we will join Remember The Miners for a VIP reception and the2nd Annual Bob Huggins Fish Fry at the Waterfront.  This FishFry will feature Jerry West and will benefit Remember the Miners scholarshipprogram and the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Fund.  This event shouldbe a lot of fun as it was last year.

Saturday will begin with a bus departing the main entrance of the hotel at 9a.m. with the pre-game tailgate tent opening at 9:30 a.m. with a brunch typemenu and all of our legislative, government and both Marshall & WVU friendsbeing invited to join us.  The game begins at 12 noon and tickets areavailable through the Association at $60.00 per ticket.  After return tothe hotel we will be having a post-game buffet dinner.

More than 150 people – mostly coal miners and their families turned outthis past Monday evening in Madisonfor the launch of the COALition for Romney. The group is a grassrootsorganization composed of working coal miners, their families, business owners,school teachers and others  -- both Democrats and Republicans, union,non-union, labor and management – coming together to protect the state’svital coal industry from the Obama Administration’s on-going War on Coalby supporting the candidacy of the prospective GOP Presidential nominee MittRomney.

Monday’s meeting was essentially an organizational meeting. The group hassince launched a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-COALition/265299486910146?ref=hl. Leaders from Citizens for Coal, the Logan Coal Vendors Association, theCoalition for Mountaintop Mining and other groups are assisting the group withits formation.

Media from WOWK-TV, The State Journal and WCHS TV were on hand to cover theevent.  The West Virginia Radio Network’s Talkline program withHoppy Kerchival featured stories about the event for three consecutive days,including interviews with Coalition Co-Chairs Chris Hamilton, Roger Horton and Jimmy Winkler.

The Friends of Coal have launched three new Facebook pages -- Virginia,Pennsylvania and Ohio– to join existing pages for West Virginia,Kentucky and Wyoming.  The new pages are linked atpresent to the existing West Virginia and Kentucky pages. LaunchedAugust 15th, the pages have already drawn a significant amount of attention andare experiencing rapid growth. Please visit them at:

OHIO -- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Coal-Ohio/506676489346714?ref=hl

PENNSYLVANIA – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Coal-Pennsylvania/330247297069787?ref=hl

VIRGINIA – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Coal-Virginia/409523569106538?ref=hl

WEST VIRGINIA – http://www.facebook.com/friendsofcoal?ref=hl

KENTUCKY – http://www.facebook.com/friendsofcoal?ref=hl#!/friendsofcoalky

WYOMING – http://www.facebook.com/friendsofcoal?ref=hl#!/groups/121501981319765/

We are also assisting in the launch of a Friends of Coal – Virginia Tech,which has already attracted nearly 100 on-campus members. Our goal is now todevelop a single portal for both the Friends of Coal web pages and the socialmedia outlets.