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37th Annual Mining Symposium

Below is the tentative agenda for the two days of the 37th Annual Mining Symposium.  The agendas for the Health & Safety and Environmental Sessions will be finalized by the first of next week and will be e-mailed.
 
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD
11:30 a.m. Lunch sponsored by Jackson Kelly
1 p.m.       Health & Safety Session
1 p.m.       Environmental Session
        (agendas for each will follow the first of week)
5 p.m.       Associate’s Welcoming Reception
 
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH
7:00 a.m.   REGISTRATION
7:30 a.m.   Breakfast sponsored by Dinsmore & Shohl and
Logan Corporation
8:30 a.m.   Welcome & Introductions
                James O. Bunn
                WVCA Chairman
8:45 a.m.   Central Appalachian Challenges
                Joe Craft, President/CEO
                Alliance Coal Company
9:30 a.m.   U. S. Coal Forecast 2010
                Hal Quinn, President
                National Mining Association
10:15 a.m. Break sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson
10:30 a.m. The State of the State
                Governor Joe Manchin
                State of West Virginia
11:15 a.m. American Energy Securities Study
                Kenneth Nemeth, Executive Director
                Southern States Energy Board
12 noon     Mountaineer Guardian Luncheon
                Sponsored by Bowles Rice and
Marshall Miller Associates
                Awards Presentation by WV Office of Miners’
Health, Safety & Training
2 p.m.       MSHA 2010
                Joe Main, Assistant Secretary
                U. S. Mine Safety & Health Administration
2:40 p.m.   West Virginia’s Coal Economy
                Tom Witt, WVU / Cal Kent, Marshall University
3:30 p.m.   Break sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson
3:45 p.m.   Coal Advocacy
                        -- Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary
                        -- FACES
                        -- Mountain Top Mining Coalition
5 p.m.       Legislative Reception
 
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH
7 a.m.       Registration
7:30 a.m.   Breakfast sponsored by Brickstreet and
Wells Fargo Insurance – Energy & Mining Group
8 a.m.       Welcome
8:15 a.m.   Congressional Activity Relating to Coal
                Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito
9 a. m.      OSM 2010
                Joseph Pizarchik, Director
                U. S. Office of Surface Mining
9:45 a.m.   Renewable Energy –
The Gap Between the Idea and Reality
                Dr. Charles Bayless
10:30 a.m. Break sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson
10:45 a.m. Environmental Litigation Update
                Bob McLusky
                Jackson Kelly, PLLC
11:30 a.m. West Virginia’s Mining & Reclamation Program
                Randy Huffman, Cabinet Secretary
                Tom Clarke, Director, Division of Mining & Reclamation
                WV Department of Environmental Protection
12:15 p.m. Reclamation Awards Luncheon
                Sponsored by Spilman Thomas & Battle and Potesta & Associates
                Awards Presentation:  Randy Huffman, Cabinet Secretary
                WV Department of Environmental Protection
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Web Sites Progress

The West Virginia Coal Association website was met with over 4500 visits for the month of December.  The total page views for the month exceeded 11,000 with new content constantly being added.  The site saw 73 percent of those visits from new visitors with over 70 percent of all visitors coming from search engines. Lastly, the site saw visits from over 70 different countries and territories.
 
The Friends of Coal website continues to attract and interest and new visitors from all over the world.  In fact, we saw traffic from 50 different countries and territories while in total the site saw over 2,000 visitors last month.  In total, over 7,000 page views and over 77 percent were first time visitors.
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Companies in the News

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCE PARTNERS LP ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF MILLER BROS. COAL, LLC
International Resource Partners LP (“IRP”) today announced that it has acquired substantially all of the coal reserves and certain operating assets of Miller Bros. Coal, LLC, the operating subsidiary of Clearwater Natural Resources, LP of Prestonsburg, KY.
 
Miller Bros. Coal produces steam coal in Floyd, Knott, Breathitt, Johnson and Martin Counties in Eastern Kentucky and controls over 35 million tons of reserves with the ability to produce up to 3 million tons of coal annually from its 5 mining complexes.
 
With the acquisition of Miller Bros. Coal, IRP controls over 80 million tons of steam and metallurgical coal and has the ability to produce over 5 million tons annually from its surface and underground mines in West Virginia and Kentucky. In addition, IRP’s coal sales and marketing company, Logan & Kanawha, has increased its access to the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines and the Big Sandy River.
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Tug Valley Mining Institute

The TVMI will not have a meeting in January or February, their next meeting will be held March 18 with Guest Speaker, Jim McCaffrey.  Location and time are yet to be determined but will be posted in this publication when they become available.
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Want to see what mountaintop mining really looks like?

The practice of mountaintop mining was the subject of a recent episode of Decisionmakers, a news feature of the West Virginia Media Network with host Bray Carey.

If you want to see what mountaintop mining really looks like --- what it really means for southern West Virginia -- take a look at this video.

http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220918_wowktv
 
http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220923_wowktv

http://www.boomboxradio.net/boombox/PlayerSetup/Players/WOWKTVPlayer.aspx?FileId=220928_wowktv