Charleston, WV (June 2, 2014) – President Obama’s emission regulations on existing power plants, announced today, will result in a significant and further erosion of West Virginia’s coal employment base, representatives from the West Virginia Coal Forum stated today.

 Joel Watts, administrator for the West Virginia Coal Forum – a group representing both mine labor and management across the state – said, “This new rule, coupled with other recent emission-related regulations promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has forced the closure or planned closure of hundreds of power plants across the country.  As coal-fired power plants close, the need for West Virginia coal to power them – and the thousands of miners who produce it – goes away.”

WASHINGTON - On Tuesday, June 3, 2014, MSHA published a notice in the Federal Register extending the comment period on the Agency’s Request for Information (RFI) on Refuge Alternatives for Underground Coal Mines.

The original RFI was published in the Federal Register on August 8, 2013 (78 FR 48593) and was extended twice. In response to a subsequent request to further extend the comment period, MSHA is extending the comment period to October 2, 2014.

MSHA encourages interested parties to provide data and information in response to the questions in the RFI by the close of the comment period. This extension gives interested parties additional time to review research reports and other relevant information that bears on certain issues raised in the RFI. The RFI and extension notices are available on MSHA’s website at http://www.msha.gov/REGSRFI.asp.

MORGANTOWN --- WVCA Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton continued the Association’s public outreach efforts regarding the EPA’s GHG regulations and their impact on West Virginia with two events this week in the northern part of the state.

On June 4, Hamilton spoke to about 60 people at the Moundsville Rotary meeting. Then on June 5, Hamilton spoke to about 100 more at the Morgantown Rotary meeting. The events received good media coverage coming on the heels of the EPA’s announcement of its new existing source regulations this week.

CHARLESTON – The EPA and the Obama Administration announced their new GHG regulations on existing sources in Washington, DC this past Monday morning.

The regulations, which will force existing sources to slash emissions of CO2 by 30 percent from 2005 emissions, by 2030 will force even more coal-fired power plants to close.

Taken together with the recently passed standards on new sources, the threat is that coal’s share of the electric generation market in the U.S. could decrease to approximately 30 percent and putting potentially hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work.

The 21^st West Virginia Coal Festival is set for June 17 thru June 21 in downtown Madison.  This year’s event will feature top-notch entertainers, a parade, miner’s memorial service, mine equipment exhibits, fireworks, carnival, beauty pageant and many other events.

Entertainment line-up:  June 19, Matt Stillwell & 7 Bridges; June 20, Rick Huckaby & LITTLE TEXAS; and, June 21, Autumn Blair & Katie Ohh.