This critical legislation is about more than coal mining jobs – it’s about all the jobs created by affordable and reliable electricity generated from coal.  These jobs range from high-tech manufacturing and computing to Main Street hardware and grocery stores that depend upon affordable electricity to keep the power on and the doors open.  H.R. 3409 will ensure that electricity remains affordable for businesses and households.

•Title I– The Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), will protect American jobs and support U.S. energy production by prohibiting the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new rules or regulations that will adversely impact mining jobs and our economy.
◦It is a necessary safeguard in response to the effort by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) to conduct a sweeping rewrite of a coal mining regulation (the 2008 Stream Buffer Zone Rule) that will cost an estimated 270,000 mining related jobs and decrease American energy production.
◦This legislation does not affect any existing OSM regulations, but is simply a time-out to allow OSM to ensure any new regulations are consistent with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). 

Harvard University’s graduates are earning less than those from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology after a decade-long commodity bull market created shortages of workers as well as minerals.

Those leaving the college of 2,300 students this year got paid a median salary of $56,700, according to PayScale Inc., which tracks employee compensation data from surveys. At Harvard, where tuition fees are almost four times higher, they got $54,100. Those scheduled to leave the campus in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May are already getting offers, at a time when about one in 10 recent U.S. college graduates is out of work.

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Last Saturday (September 1) was the last Friends of Coal Bowl of the series with WVU coming out victorious in each of the seven games.  As in the past games, there was a very large crowd in the Friends of Coal tent before the game and the previous nights festivities at the Remember the Miners/Bob Huggins Fish Fry was also well attended.

A very special thanks to everyone at Marshall University and West Virginia University who helped to make these Bowls such a success.  Both schools have been exceptional.

A special membership meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 20th in rooms 203 & 204 of the Charleston Civic Center, to review and discuss West Virginia’s new drug testing program for coal mining operations per HB 4351 and recent activity/progress surrounding extended cut mining plans.

The morning portion of the meeting from 9 a.m. till noon will address recent developments concerning extended cut mining and the new “negotiated” guidelines for approving and operating under extended cut mining plans.