West Virginia recorded its eighth mining fatality of the year and second of October when a miner was killed in a haulage accident occurred at approximately 12:15 p.m at a Marshall County mine.  The victim was caught between a locomotive and another rail car when they were struck by another locomotive.

WVCA’s Communications Director T. L. Headley is finalizing plans for the association’s new monthly television show, to be seen on West Virginia State Library Commission’s television network around the state. The initial video montage, music score and exit montage have been chosen. Headley is working to finalize a tentative list of guests and topics for the first season. See further updates for times and channel availabilities.

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WVCA ‘s Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton testified this past week at MSHA’s public hearing on the agency’s mandatory drug testing rule. Hamilton complimented the agency for recognizing that individuals under the influence of alcohol or prohibited substances were a known safety hazard and generally supported the proposed rule but was highly critical of the rule as written serving to compromise existing company programs which provide for a “zero tolerance” policy.

Part IV – Items of General Interest -- Exported Coal Tax Refund Announcement 2008-103

As of October 14, 2008, Business Taxpayers who must remit the following taxes will be able to view, file and pay taxes on the Tax Department’s new, secure website called http://mytaxes.wvtax.gov .

Judge Robert Chambers, the presiding federal judge in a lawsuit seeking to block a Fola Coal Co. strip mining permit in Clay County, has refused to step down despite a potential conflict of interest.

More than 100 coal miners and their families were on hand Wednesday and Thursday to hear oral arguments regarding a request for a preliminary injunction against a Section 404 permits issued by the Corps of Engineers to Hobet Mining Company and Fola Coal Company.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Chambers will hold a hearing starting on Wednesday of this week regarding a request for a preliminary injunction against a section 404 permits issued by the Corps of Engineers to Hobet Mining Company and Fola Coal Company.  The hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at the federal Courthouse in Huntington, is the latest manifestation of the extremists’ legal campaign against the mining industry. The request for a preliminary injunction alleges the Corps impermissibly issued the individual Permits to Fola and Hobet.

The West Virginia Coal Association hosted more than 50 members of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) by providing a tour of a working surface mine and discussing the process of mountaintop mining with the group. The tour was conducted by WVCA President Bill Raney and former Chairman Andrew Jordon. The site was Pritchard Mining’s Four-Mile mine near Marmet.

The group came into the area Wednesday, Oct. 15 for a workshop as part of the SEJ’s Annual Conference in Roanoke, Va. The topic of the presentation was Climate Change and Our Energy Future in Rural America.

Patriot Coal CEO Richard Whiting and West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney were among the featured speakers at the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute’s Annual Technical Meeting. Held Oct. 16-18, the event looked at various issues affecting the coal industry.

Whiting, the keynote speaker, spoke about current events with Patriot Coal. Raney provided a review of coal mining-related issues.

Democratic Governor Joe Manchin and his opponent, former Republican state Senator Russ Weeks agree on the issue of mountaintop removal mining – supporting the practice as long as it's done responsibly.  Manchin says he's working with the Department of Environmental Protection on "a very aggressive plan" that states "there will be no disturbance of the land unless you can show, with the post mine land use program, that you'll put the land back better and more productive than what you altered it."

Week’s says coal is the nation’s best energy source and will be well into the future.

"West Virginia is coal, has been coal and West Virginia will continue to be coal - past, present future," said Weeks. "We can't do anything at all right now that's going to alter the fact that most of the tax money that comes to Charleston is generated by what they call mineral extraction and energy production."

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Coal is an essential part of today’s economy. It cannot be replaced by any other source today and provides a safe, dependable and clean alternative to foreign oil in the short-run.

These are the findings of a study released by Imagine West Virginia, a non-partisan think tank. The results were presented at a meeting in Morgantown this past week hosted by the Coal Forum and Imagine West Virginia. It is the second of several planned meetings around the state.

The first meeting, held in Charleston in August, drew approximately 200 people. About 100 attended the meeting in Morgantown.

The report offered an ambitious set of 10 recommendations including strengthening research, working to develop the next generation of leaders, training for workers and creating an independent energy advisory board.

Additional meetings have been scheduled for Beckley and the Eastern Panhandle, with other locations potentially added at a later date.

Williams Run wends through State Game Lands 39 -- a densely-wooded tract that blazes with the rich warm colors of autumn.

Hunters who venture into this forested valley would never guess that Williams Run is practically dead, the consequence of an old strip mine that ravaged nearby farmland.

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On the big picture, Barack Obama and John McCain agree -with a shared sense of urgency -that the U.S. can't keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere unchecked, because their accumulation threatens to bring rising seas, mass extinction of plants and animals, and more hunger, disease and natural disasters.

Two coal companies have filed a lawsuit against Blaine, claiming that ordinances designed to protect the community from longwall mining violate their rights to do business.

Penn Ridge Coal LLC and Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Co. filed the lawsuit last week in federal court, alleging 15 counts, including that the ordinances, first passed in 2006 and amended this past summer, violate both the commerce clause and contracts clause of the U. S. Constitution.

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