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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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Nicewonder joins to accept his 2009 award at annual meeting in Glade Springs
The West Virginia Coal Association and the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute are proud to name Thomas W. Howard and James Lewis Laurita (Jim, Sr.) as the 2010 inductees to the West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame. Laurita and Howard were joined in accepting the award by Don Nicewonder, who received his 2009 induction. Nicewonder had been unable to attend this past year.
“This is the highest honor our industry can bestow,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “This award is given to people who devote a lifetime of service to our industry and our state. I am so proud to be able to say I know these three gentlemen and count them as friends. They are gentlemen in every sense of the word. They embody the very best of our industry. Their lives of hard work, commitment to excellence and commitment to the state and its people truly light the way for the rest of us to follow.”
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