CHARLESTON -- If you were at the Charleston Embassy Suites Thursday August 27^th, you would likely have been bowled over by a sea of green and white. The Marshall Thundering Herd was in town with Head Coach Doc Holliday and the 2015 Herd Football Team to kick off the season with the annual Paint the Capital City Green Event sponsored by the Friends of Coal.

West Virginia Coal Association Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton was on hand to lead off the event again this year. Hamilton hosted several of the players at the FOC’s table during the event. Hamilton also presented Friends of Coal gift baskets to Coach Holliday, Marshall University President and former WVCA Chairman Gary White and Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick.

It was a great event celebrating one of the state’s leading universities and its leading industry.

#GO HERD!

The federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) will hold a public hearing in Charleston on Thursday, September 17, 2015 on what they’re calling the Stream Protection Rule (SPR), which is actually the Stream Buffer Zone Rule and is a complete “rewrite” of the federal surface mining act to the detriment of the mining industry and landowners across the country. This hearing will be held at the Charleston Civic Center, beginning at 5:00 p.m.   The actual hearing will not begin until 6:00 p.m., but we need to have plenty of miners, suppliers, their families and supporters there early to insure we get signed up to speak before others. Prior to the Charleston hearing, there will be hearings (noted below) in Pittsburgh and Big Stone Gap, VA, which also need strong industry participation. The earlier hearings in Denver and Lexington, KY have been successful with good industry presence and involvement.

BLUEFIELD -- The West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal will be attending the Bluefield Coal Show on September 16-18 at the Brushfork Armory on Bramwell Road. The annual event continues to grow and today is considered one of the major regional shows in the U.S. Recent shows featured approximately 240 exhibitors displaying first-hand what the future holds in the way of equipment and new innovative technologies being developed in the coal industry. We hope you will join us and show your support for the state’s leading industry at the 2015 Bluefield Coal Show on September 16, 17, and 18. Registration forms are available at http://www.bluefieldchamber.com/bluefield-coal-show.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS – The West Virginia State Chamber of Commerce has elected former two-time West Virginia Coal Association Chairman Andrew Jordon as its new board chairman for the 2015-2017 term. The Chamber announced the selection at its annual Business Summit held earlier this week at the Greenbrier.

The three-day meeting included the state’s largest gathering of business, education and policy leaders.

CHARLESTON – The Association today sent a request for an extension of the comment periods for OSM’s proposed Stream Buffer Zone Rule. Following is the letter.

September 5, 2015

The Honorable Sally Jewell, Secretary

United States Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, N.W.

Washington, DC   20240

Dear Secretary Jewell,

On behalf of the members of the West Virginia Coal Association who are responsible for approximately ninety-five percent of West Virginia’s annual coal production and approximately 65,000 direct and indirect jobs in the State, we request a 120-day extension of the comment period on the proposed rule published by your Office of Surface Mining (OSM) on July 27, 2015 at 80 Fed. Reg. 44436, regarding stream buffer zones.