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CEDAR has just completed their ninth year in southern West Virginia. Over the nine-year period, CEDAR has provided 387 teachers with approximately $87,593 in grant money to utilize in their classroom teaching about the many benefits coal has to offer. 8,877 students have been involved in these coal study units in Mingo, Logan, Boone, McDowell, and Wyoming counties.
At the ninth Regional Coal Fair, 252 projects were on display from students in K-12 grades that demonstrated their understanding of how coal is formed, mined, and transported, as well as how the industry affects their daily lives. Over the nine-year period, 2,343 projects have been represented at the regional level. A total of $51,539 in cash prizes has been awarded to students for performance and $11,912 in cash prizes has been awarded to the school coal fair coordinators (teacher designated by school principal). Exhibits were entered in seven categories: Art, English/Literature, Math, Music, Science, Social Studies and Technology/Multi Media. Each category is split into three grade levels (K-4), (5-8), and (9-12). In addition to the cash prizes awarded, the students gained a hands-on education in coal and found pride in their strong coal heritage.
During the week of April 26 – April 30, approximately 800 visitors toured the projects at the Harless Community Center in Gilbert. Bus tours were scheduled from the participating counties to tour the projects on display. Two winning CEDAR students, William Poe and Dustin Adkins performed for Tug Valley Mining Institute attendees. Tony Bumbico, Arch VP of Safety; John M Gallick, Alpha VP Safety & Health; and Rick Marlowe, Consol Director of Safety Awareness, addressed the Tug Valley Mining Institute meeting on Thursday night discussing safety, our industry’s top priority.
CEDAR of Southern West Virginia, Inc. is an all volunteer, not for profit corporation which began as a partnership between the Coal Industry, Business Community, and Educators, created with the purpose of improving the image of the coal industry
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CONSOL Energy will be the main corporate sponsor of the joint meeting of the Office of Surface Mining's Reclamation and Enforcement Agency, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI), American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR) and the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation to be held at the Greentree Radisson Hotel June 6 - 10.
Please review and contact Jane Evans if you or others in your group would like to register for the entire conference, portions, or any of the various activities and special events. As the main corporate sponsor, we are entitled to four complimentary full registrations. Additional full or partial registrations can be purchased at the discounted conference rates: http://www.pghminingreclamationconf.com/registration.html
Following are pertinent links to the conference Website, and which illustrate the level of CONSOL participation as presenters, speakers and hosts for various site tours and activities.
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Thomas Rubenstein and Christopher Power, partners with Dinsmore & Shohl, were recently selected to serve as Trustees at Large for the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation (EMLF). Both attorneys will serve a first-year term from 2010 to 2011 on the Board of Trustees.
Thomas Rubenstein is the managing partner of the firm's Morgantown, West Virginia office. He has more than 25 years of experience as a coal lawyer with both substantial in-house and private practice experience representing public and private operating and land holding companies. Rubenstein focuses on legal and business matters pertaining to the coal industry, including transactions, mergers and acquisitions, coal sales, mine safety and health, and lease, sublease, operating and contract mining agreements.
Christopher Power is a partner in the firm's Charleston, West Virginia office. He is a member of the Natural Resources and Environmental Practice Groups. Power's practice encompasses civil and administrative litigation related to the energy industry, with a particular emphasis on natural resources extraction and related operations.
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The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named the members of its Advisory Panel on the ecological effects of coal mining in Appalachia. Referred to as the Science Advisory Board (SAB), the panel will assist EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) in preparing a scientific assessment of the ecological impacts related to mountaintop mining and valley-fill operations. The evaluation is tied to EPA’s continuing regulatory focus on coal mining in Central Appalachia such as the April 1, 2010 “guidance” on application of the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act to mining permit applications. More information on the SAB panel, including a list of members can be found at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/SABPRODUCT.NSF/81e39f4c09954fcb85256ead006be86e/acd3a1af5c7138e785257625006c891e!OpenDocument
For additional information contact
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing this past Tuesday on the Spruce #1 mine permit, first issued in 2007, in apparent preparation to veto the permit. The hearing was held at the Charleston Civic Center and drew approximately 900 people with nearly 100 making comments.
It is estimated that the crowd was approximately 80 percent pro-permit and 20 percent anti-permit. The same proportions were seen among those making comments.
Prior to the event the Friends of Coal and FACES co-hosted a rally to support the permit and the Appalachian coal mining industry.
The rally was attended by almost 300 people and guests included Governor Joe Manchin, Congressman Nick Rahall, President of the State Senate and Lieutenant Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Speaker of the House of Delegates Rick Thompson, the majority leaders from both houses and several State Senators and Delegates, 1st District Congressional Candidate Mike Oliverio, 3rd District Congressional Candidate Elliot “Spike” Maynard, representatives of the office of Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Steve Roberts, Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett, representatives from the Ohio Coal Association and the Virginia Mining Association, elected officials from several West Virginia and Kentucky counties, representatives of numerous chambers of commerce and trade associations throughout the West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland, numerous miners and their families, members of the Citizens Advisory Panel (CAP) and others.
The event drew news media from around the state, the nation and the world, including a television crew from ZDF or German television. Prior to the event, the Friends of Coal and FACES successfully placed earned and paid media mentions in radio, television and print throughout the region, including a 30-minute interview with WV Coal Association President Bill Raney, members of CAP and others on the WOWK-TV show “Decision Makers.”
We believe the event was a true success and provided an excellent show of support for the industry in West Virginia and across Appalachia.
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Vice-President
West Virginia Coal Association
Concerning EPA’s Proposed Revocation of the Spruce Mine Permit
Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and thank you for attentiveness to this issue.
Briefly touch on some technical aspects of the Spruce Mine and your agency’s actions to revoke a three year-old permit.
First, I think it is beyond argument that any action by EPA to revoke the Spruce Mine permit fails the statutory test and parameters of authority that are granted to your agency under Section 404(c) of the federal Clean Water Act. EPA. Has in fact admitted as much when it confessed that over the 38 year course of its existence it has never sought to revoke an issued permit.
EPA’s action relative to the Spruce permit should have occurred when the Corps issued the permit… some three years ago. But EPA did not take such actions, and in fact complimented the Corps and the Company on the actions is has taken to bring the permit to fruition.
So, what has changed in three years since the Spruce permit was issued?
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This action threatens the very future of mining in our state and region… not just mountaintop mining operations or even surface mining … but all forms of mining and with it the futures of the 50,000 West Virginia and 80,000 Appalachian families whose livelihoods depend on coal. We call upon our Congressional representatives, our local and state elected officials and everyone concerned about the future of our state and our region to let the EPA and the Obama Administration know this effort to destroy the Eastern coal industry must come to a stop.
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MELVILLE — Roger Ramey smiled as he stood on the landing strip at the Logan County Airport yesterday and watched the Hercules C-130 aircraft land.
Ramey, who retired after 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and is the senior board member on the Logan County Airport Authority, said watching the airplane land was a "dream come true."
"This is a lifelong dream," Ramey said. "When I was in the Air Force and stationed overseas in the 1970s, I heard through my parents that they were planning to build an airport here. I thought I'd spent enough time in the Air Force that I could come back to Logan and get a job at the airport. It didn't progress as big and as fast as I'd have liked and I spent 20 years in the Air Force and when I got out, we came back to Logan and I got a job with the railroad.
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