The Boone County Commission could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if recently announced coal mine layoffs last for an extended period of time.

"It's going to hurt everybody in our county," Commission President Mickey Brown told MetroNews Monday. "We're totally dependent upon coal."

Both Patriot Coal and Alpha Natural Resources announced layoffs at various southern West Virginia coal mines last week. Several of those are in Boone County.

Brown says coal production actually peaked in Boone County in 2007 but severance tax revenues have stayed steady because of the high price of coal per ton.

"If it wasn't for the price---our coal severance would have been way down," Brown said.

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