The Federation for American Coal Energy and Security (FACES of Coal) announced they will be holding a Virginia Coal Rally at the Washington County Fairgrounds on June 2nd from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. The Rally is being billed as a celebration of Appalachian and Virginia Coal Jobs and will feature live entertainment as well as an open forum to highlight the importance of coal to Virginia and the country.

Confirmed participants include Virginia Senate candidate George Allen, Virginia Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey. Invited speakers include Presidential Candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine, Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb. The rally is being coordinated with the Eastern Coal Council and includes participation from several Virginia and Appalachian based businesses.

United States Energy Association Executive Director Barry Worthington had some good news for what is likely a large portion of West Virginia: Coal has a bright future.

"I think we're going to continue to use coal," Worthington told a small crowd in the University of Charleston's Riggleman Hall this past Thursday. "I believe sanity will prevail."

Worthington was the "clean-up batter" for the university's five-part speaker series on energy. He followed Nick Akins, CEO of American Electric Power; Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy; David Porges, CEO of the EQT Corporation; and Kevin Crutchfield, CEO of Alpha Natural Resources.

Worthington said that one of the biggest challenges the coal industry faces in West Virginia is overly stringent regulations from the U.S. EPA. Recent rules, he said, threaten to dissuade coal companies from building new plants.

The Friends of Coal is once again joining with the West Virginia Radio Corporation and MetroNews to sponsor the WV Scholars Program. Friends of Coal will be the title sponsor of the scholarship program. The program is a full, four-year scholarship covering the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Valued at $125,000, the scholarship will be awarded to one lucky student from West Virginia who is currently a member of the junior class in high school.

You can apply for the scholarship by going to www.wvmetronews.com and click on the “Apply Now” button for the complete program details.

A little more than a month remains to submit story ideas or get ad space for the annual WV Coal Association/Friends of Coal State Journal insert.

We are in the process of developing an editorial plan for this publication. We are very interested in photos and story ideas from our membership.  We would very much like to build several member profiles into the publication. If you have a story idea, would like to submit something for consideration or would like to reserve advertising space, please check out the following editorial calendar:

Two long-standing statewide events are being combined to create the newly named West Virginia Leadership Summit at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown, WV on April 18th and 19th. The premiere Leadership Summit combines the highly successful WV Leadership Conference, hosted for 10 years by the West Virginia Roundtable, and Generation West Virginia’s equally successful 5-year old Young Leaders’ Conference.

The Summit will feature keynote speaker, William C. Taylor, co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company magazine, as well as established leaders of business, industry, government, education, private enterprise and philanthropy such as WV Governor Earl Ray Tomblin; Susan Brewer, CEO of Steptoe & Johnson law firm; William “Pat” Getty, president of Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation; Kim Knopf, President/CEO of Innovative Mattress Solutions; Henry Harmon, President/CEO/Chairman of Triana Energy. The Summit will include a series of workshop sessions as well.  Registration information can be found at www.wvleadership.org.