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On December 11th of last year, Fil Nutter, a pioneer of our industry as one of the original Board members of the West Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Association and a founder of Hobet Mining, as well as several other companies, died after an extended illness. In accordance with Fil's wishes, his widow, Cathy, has planned a celebration of his life on January 30th at Edgewood Country Club at 11:00 a.m. Cathy wanted to be certain that all those who knew and worked with Fil were notified of the event and encouraged to attend and remember Fil in the way he wanted.
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The Legislature opened on the 13th and, as of Friday, there were more than 1,200 bills before the body. These are a combination of bills that carried over from last year’s Session that did not pass (House only), as well as new bills introduced this year. A report is being prepared that will include brief descriptions of bills relevant to the industry and their committee references.
In his 2010 State-of-the-State Address, Governor Manchin referenced the challenges currently confronting coal mining in West Virginia and encouraged those in Washington to allow our people to work. Excerpts of his speech are shown below:
…“As we grow into new technologies and business sectors, we must still support the traditional industries that have helped build our state and make this nation great.
West Virginia will play an increasingly important role in our nation’s energy future.
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The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on business efforts to influence federal campaigns. By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run their own campaign ads.
The decision leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions. It does, however, remove limits on independent expenditures that are not coordinated with candidates' campaigns.
The case does not affect political action committees (PAC). Corporations, unions and others may create PACs to contribute directly to candidates, but they must be funded with voluntary contributions from employees, members and other individuals, not by corporate or union treasuries.
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New Associate Members are: A C Power Tech, Inc., Alex Cerreti, President; AirFlow Catalyst Systems, Inc., John Belgiorno, Sales Manager for North America; Compass Coal Services, LLC, William E. Massey, President; and, Pennington Seed, Inc.-Virginia Division, Dan Cosgrove, Professional Turf Sales. Welcome to all and we look forward to meeting you at the Symposium.
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The practice of mountaintop mining was the subject of a recent episode of Decisionmakers, a news feature of the West Virginia Media Network with host Bray Carey.
If you want to see what mountaintop mining really looks like --- what it really means for southern West Virginia -- take a look at this video.
http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220918_wowktv
http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220923_wowktv
http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220928_wowktv
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The June edition of "The Coal Seam" television show is now running on the West Virginia Library Commission Network as well as public access channels around the state. This edition features a discussion of the economic and social impact of mountaintop mining. Guests include Art Kirkendoll, president of the Logan County Commission, and Roger Horton, president of Citizens for Coal. They joined host Chris Hamilton for a free-ranging discussion of the role mountaintop mining plays in the economy of the southern coalfield counties. This is the fourth episode of the “Coal Seam”, with each one playing for a month, following its original production. The Library Commission’s Network is available on the public access channels throughout West Virginia. Each of the four editions are available on the Association’s webpage at http://www.wvcoal.com. Next month’s edition will continue the discussion of mountain top mining and will feature a discussion of Coalfield Development Bill, passed during the recent special session of the West Virginia Legislature.
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By REP. SCOTT TIPTON
My Colorado colleague, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, recently asked the Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant administrator, Mathy Stanislaus, whether the agency’s economic analysis had considered the effect of proposed regulations on jobs. “Not directly,” Stanislaus answered.
Unfortunately, this is not the only example — nor is the EPA the only government agency — to have failed to adequately consider the effect of their proposals on small businesses and jobs.
We held a hearing recently in Grand Junction, Colo., to examine this issue: burdensome federal energy regulations and their detrimental effect on small businesses, jobs and consumer prices.
President Barack Obama has been doing a lot of talking about how vital small businesses are to job creation and the economy.
He’s right.
Yet more than 43 major regulations were proposed last year, and an additional 219 are in the pipeline — each estimated to cost more than $100 million.
In addition, the administration this year proposed seven new regulations that would likely each cost the U.S. economy more than $1 billion annually, if implemented. Four were put forward by the EPA.
A recent study showed that regulation burdens to the American people cost about $1.75 trillion annually — including $281 billion for environmental regulations that disproportionately hit small businesses. On average, government regulations cost small businesses nearly $10,585 per employee.
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