The 80^th Legislature kicked off on Wednesday at noon with stability in the House and considerable drama in the State Senate as the leadership positions changed.  The Senate re-elected Earl Ray Tomblin as Senate President so that he can continue to serve his constitutional duty as “Acting” Governor.  Following lengthy debate Senator Jeff Kessler (D-Ohio) was elected “Acting” Senate President after the Senate rules were changed to recognize the position.  Kessler appointed the leaders of the Senate with some key changes as John Unger (D-Berkeley) replaced Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) as Majority Leader and Roman Prezioso (D-Marion) became Finance Committee Chairman in place of Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas).  Cory Palumbo (D-Kanawha) was named Judiciary Committee Chairman while Herb Snyder (D-Jefferson) was named Chairman of the Government Organization Committee.  Mike Green (D-Raleigh) will continue as Chairman of the Energy, Industry & Mining (EIM) Committee.  Richard Bowning (D-Wyoming) will be Majority Whip as Dr. Ron Stollings (D-Boone) will lead the Health & Human Resources Committee and Bob Williams (D-Taylor) heads up the Agriculture Committee.  Other changes and assignments will be reported in subsequent Coal Bits.

During the first three days of the Regular Session there were 599 separate bill introduced.  The House of Delegates had 504 bills and the Senate received 95 new bills.  The majority of these had been pre-filed (before the Session) and covered topics/issues that had not gotten attention in past Sessions.

Yesterday’s decision by the Obama Administration and the U.S. EPA to revoke the permits for Mingo-Logan’s Spruce Mine shows an unbelievable arrogance and a total disregard for the impact this decision will have on the lives of West Virginia’s families.

The people of West Virginia deserve better treatment from their federal government.  Time and again, the State of West Virginia and the Corps of Engineers have affirmed the issuance of this permit. For the EPA to ignore the needs of West Virginia communities represents malicious arrogance on the part of an agency determined to cripple Appalachian coal production.

At full production the mine would have employed 235 miners and created another 300 indirect and induced jobs in the area.

The jobs created by the Spruce permit would have been high-paying, long-term employment opportunities.  These jobs would pay approximately $70,000 annually with full benefits.

Total economic impact of this operation was estimated at approximately $150 million annually.

The permit is the most scrutinized mining permit in history in West Virginia or the Appalachian region.

Charleston Daily Mail - January 14, 2011

CHARLESTON, WV--West Virginia political, union and business leaders fumed Thursday after federal environmental regulators revoked a permit for a massive mountaintop mining operation in Logan County.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a long-expected decision, vetoed a 4-year-old permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine, which is owned by an Arch Coal subsidiary.

The EPA, which has stepped up its enforcement of mountaintop mining operations since President Barack Obama took office last year, said after a 15-month review that the project would simply do too much damage to the environment.

"Today's EPA decision is not just fundamentally wrong, it is an unprecedented act by the federal government that will cost our state and our nation even more jobs during the worst recession in this country's history," Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV.

“I’m not going to say it’s political, but it’s a stance they have taken policy-wise that I think is extremely harmful to the United States of America and definitely to West Virginia. This is not just an assault on the coal industry. It's an assault on every job market in the U.S. economy. It might be West Virginia and the coal industry today. It will be your industry tomorrow." Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV.