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Industry leaders, state and federal officials convene at The Greenbrier to discuss coal’s future, policy priorities, and West Virginia’s energy leadership
Charleston, W.Va. —The West Virginia Coal Association celebrated a highly successful 2026 Annual Membership Meeting at The Greenbrier Aug. 6-7, bringing together coal producers, industry partners, public officials and policymakers for two days of discussion, collaboration and renewed optimism for the industry’s future.
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CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Two priority reports presented this week to U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright by the National Coal Council will offer needed assistance to West Virginia Coal and provide the state with an energy blueprint for growth and development.
The reports Considerations for Maintaining and Growing the U.S. Coal Fleet and Opportunities to Expand U.S. Coal Export Options call upon the U.S. Department of Energy, the EPA, and Congress to continue the work of the National Energy Dominance Council by Improving the performance and value of coal-fired generation and expanding U.S. Coal Exports.
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Nobody who has read the Charleston Gazette-Mail’s editorial page over the last quarter-century needs a weatherman to tell them which way its wind blows.
The Gazette-Mail has spent a generation editorializing against the men and women who mine West Virginia coal, against the companies that employ them, against the communities those paychecks keep alive. The hostility is the house style. So when the editorial board rushed into print with a gleeful little eulogy headlined "Coal takes another blow as solar surges," the only surprise was how badly the board fumbled its own case. It refuted itself inside its own column and apparently hoped nobody would read that far.
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Chris Hamilton, President, West Virginia Coal Association
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nobody who has read this newspaper's editorial page over the last quarter-century needs a weatherman to tell them which way its wind blows. The Gazette-Mail has spent a generation editorializing against the men and women who mine West Virginia coal, against the companies that employ them, against the communities those paychecks keep alive. The hostility is the house style. So when the editorial board rushed into print with a gleeful little eulogy headlined "Coal takes another blow as solar surges," the only surprise was how badly the board fumbled its own case. It refuted itself inside its own column and apparently hoped nobody would read that far.
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A Response to Julie McNamara and the Union of Concerned Scientists
By Chris Hamilton | President, West Virginia Coal Association
Julie McNamara of the Union of Concerned Scientists published a column this week arguing that coal-fired power is expensive and unreliable, and that the Trump administration is doing ratepayers a disservice by supporting it. The argument is wrong on both counts. It was wrong before the Department of Energy announced $850 million in new coal investment on June 4th — including two brand-new coal-fired power plants, one in West Virginia and one in Alaska, the first new American coal plants since 2013. It is wrong now. And it will remain wrong for as long as the American economy keeps moving in the direction it is moving: more energy-intensive, more technology-dependent, and far more unforgiving of the kind of intermittent, weather-dependent power that McNamara would have us bet our future on.
Two claims. Two chances to get it right. McNamara missed both.
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