A memorial service this morning at the State Capitol gave the State and Nation’s final farewell to United States Senator Robert C. Byrd.  Senator Byrd died early this week in a northern Virginia hospital and was the longest serving Senator in the history of the country.  President Obama and Vice President Biden attended and participated in the service.  Senator Byrd laid in repose in the United States Senate Chamber on Thursday before being flown to Charleston on a West Virginia Air National Guard C-130.  Upon arrival in Charleston, his body was transported from the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse in downtown Charleston by a horse-drawn caisson to the State Capitol where the public paid their respects throughout the night. Senator Byrd will be buried in a northern Virginia cemetery, beside his wife, Erma.  

The new episode of The Coal Seam television show was taped June 29 at our studios in Charleston, with Lt. Governor and Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin as our guest. The show was featured a great conversation between host Chris Hamilton and Senator Tomblin, ranging from the current threats to eastern coal to the importance of our community colleges in providing training targeted to current job needs. Check with your local cable provider for air times on the state library channel and on local public access channels across the state.

The West Virginia Coal Association and the Friends of Coal websites continued to tally large numbers of visitors this past month.  According to our latest report, the Friends of Coal website (www.friendsofcoal.org.) saw 1,583 visits and 5,668 page views for the month, with new visitors accounting for 81 percent of these visits.  Each of the visitors looked at an average of 3.58 pages per visit. Visitors to the site came from 27 different countries.

The West Virginia Coal Association website (www.wvcoal.com) saw 4,290 visits and recorded 10,218 page views during the month of June. Visitors averaged 2.42 pages viewed during each visit and 70 percent of the visitors were new to the site. Visitors to the site came from 62 different countries.

Representatives of the West Virginia Coal Association and the Friends of Coal will be on hand for the City of Logan’s annual Independence Day Freedom Festival. We would like to thank Mayor Serafino Noletti and the good folks of the City of Logan and Logan County for their support of the Friends of Coal.

West Virginia Coal Association/Friends of Coal banners were placed across the streets hosting the festival and more than 50 city merchants were placing Friends of Coal signs in their windows for the weekend celebration. Coal truly is the foundation of our state’s economy and our nation’s independence. It has provided the fuel that won our nation’s wars and powered the greatest economy in the world.

Representatives of the West Virginia Coal Association and the Friends of Coal continue their summer outreach program through the month of July.  The following are some of the events currently scheduled. More are being added each day.

·         (July 9) West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney will speak to the Martinsburg Chamber of Commerce.

·         (July 17) The Friends of Coal Auto Fair in Beckley and the Mark Plants’ Football Camp in Charleston.

·         (August 13-20) We are finalizing our participation schedule for this year’s State Fair of West Virginia in Lewisburg.

If you would like to schedule a representative of the Friends of Coal or the West Virginia Coal Association for your event, please contact us at 304.342.4153. Our schedules are filling fast and we very much want to meet with your group to provide an accurate portrait of our state’s coal industry.