A Fall Gathering will be held in Morgantown on October 31 – November 1 at the Waterfront Hotel, which will serve as a regional membership meeting. November 1^st will be Energy Industry Appreciation Day at the WVU v. TCU football game with special pricing for all those who work in the energy industries. Registration information was sent out a couple weeks ago and again yesterday, if you did not receive please contact Sandi at sdavison@wvcoal.com.

On October 1, 1969, country music legend and Kentucky native Loretta Lynn recorded “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in Nashville.

Coal is about 31 times cheaper than gasoline per unit of energy.

In the last 30 years, China moved an estimated 680 million people out of poverty by giving them access to modern energy, mostly powered by coal.

OBITUARY:  Carol Raulston, 66, passed away September 16 after a lengthy illness. She was senior vice president communications at NMA from 2002 to 2013. A memorial service is scheduled for October 4 at Fellows, Helfenbein and Newman Funeral Home, 200 South Harrison St., Easton, Md. 21601.

Harry Childress is the new president of Virginia Coal & Energy Alliance. He can be reached at 276-889-2257 or by e-mail address at harry@virginiacoalenergy.com. 

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has made no secret of his plans, should he win re-election next month, and should he become Senate Majority Leader.

The latter will happen if McConnell defeats Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes and Republicans win a net of six Senate seats in November. McConnell has told audiences and reporters that, if he became Senate Majority Leader, he would seek to defeat President Obama’s legislative agenda by adding language to spending bills that would strip funding from projects the President supports.

A new episode of the Coal Seam television show is now airing. This episode features West Virginia Division of Energy Director Jeff Herholdt discussing current trends and issues related to the coal industry and energy.

The episode will be broadcast through most of October.  It is available on the state Library Television Network at http://www.librarycommission.wv.gov/programs/ltn/videoserver/Pages/coalseam.aspx, as well as your local cable system’s public access channel. Locally it is on Suddenlink Channel 17.