Natural Resources Fall 2010

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EASTERN KENTUCKY’S

NATURAL RESOURCES A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE APPALACHIAN NEWS-EXPRESS

Inside This Issue OCTOBER 2010 PUBLISHER - JEFF VANDERBECK EDITOR - JERRY BOGGS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIKE DAVIS SECTION DESIGN AND LAYOUT TRACIE VANDERBECK ANDREW LITTLETON ADVERTISING DESIGN TABITHA ADKINS ANDREW LITTLETON SALES; MELISSA KELLER, TONY THACKER, AIMEE THACKER, LYNN MASSEY, KRISTA DUTY COVER PHOTO - CHRIS ANDERSON

6 Coal miners rally against Obama administration 10 Rand Paul speaks at coal appreciation day

40 Energy and Environment Cabinet prepares for Annual Governor’s Conference

12 ICG Letter to News-Express Editor

42 Old-Style coal plants expanding

14 Buses depart Pikeville for Washington coal rally

45 Mingo renewable energy projects receive funding

17 Wright Concrete receives Excellence Entrepreneurship Award

46 U. S. mining official to tour Mingo postmine land uses

20 Paul tours plant to tout coal 24 Rep. Keith Hall stands up for miners at “Bring Them Home Safe!” event 32 Mine rescue competition 34 Mine Safety agency has new rule after W. Va. blast 36 2010 Commissioner’s award of excellence

49 Arch Coal 2Q profit surges on global sales 50 Mining environmental engineers: Bearse bets on future in coal 52 DEP names panel to help guide W. Va. gas drilling 54 Mining activists demand WVU, Nike pull uniform ad

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Coal miners rally against Obama administration

By Frederic J. Frommer Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of coal miners rallied on Capitol Hill Wednesday against the Obama administration’s attempts to rein in mountaintop removal mining, accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of trying to wipe out the coal industry.

“This administration is trying to shut down coal and fire all of you,” claimed Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., adding that the EPA was practicing “strangulation by regulation.”

The industry-backed group Faces of Coal said it paid for most of the travel and lodging expenses for the coal miners, who came from West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Speakers included politicians from both parties and country music singer Stella

Parton.

Later, country music performer Big Kenny told a smaller, rival rally of opponents of mountaintop removal that the coal industry does not speak for all of Appalachia.

In mountaintop removal mining, forests are clear-cut, explosives blast apart the rock, and machines scoop out the exposed coal. The earth left behind is dumped into valleys, covering intermittent streams. Coal operators say it’s the most efficient way to reach some reserves, and that it supports tens of thousands of jobs and provides coal for electricity. Opponents say it pollutes water, defaces majestic scenery and obliterates the quiet country environment.

The coal industry has filed a lawsuit against the EPA’s new policy which tightened water quality standards for valley fills at surface coal

mines in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said the goal is a standard so strict that few, if any, permits would be issued for valley fills.

Ralliers wore blue Faces of Coal Tshirts, and some sported hard hats.

They hoisted signs that said, “Coal Keeps the Lights on,” and “Coal Miners ‘Dig’ Their Jobs.”

When an opening prayer was given, it included thanks to God for natural resources such as coal.

“They’re trying to take our jobs,” yelled Haven King, a 65-year-old retired coal miner from Hazard, Ky. “We have to stand up.”

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, said that the EPA is blocking jobs.

“West Virginia will fight back and every coal state must fight back,”

he said.

The state’s senior senator, Democrat Jay Rockefeller, said that the EPA’s Jackson “doesn’t understand the sensitivities economically of what unemployment means. Her job is relatively simple: clean everything up, keep it clean, don’t do anything to disturb perfection.

Well, you can’t do coal and do that at the same time. God didn’t make coal to be an easy thing to work with.”

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan responded: “This administrator has Above: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., addresses mining supporters from the Appalachian states during a rally Wednesday, Sept. 15 near the Capitol in Washington.

Continued from Page 54 event will focus on what it considers unfair regulations and the need for jobs.

WVU senior Joe Gorman said Nike and the school should honor underground miners “without glorifying the mountaintop removal that’s destroying West Virginia’s heritage and the mountains that make us the Mountaineers.”

“The ad says, ‘It’s just the way things are done in West Virginia,’” Gorman said, “but miners and residents of the southern coalfields have been fighting strip mining and mountaintop removal since before I was born, and that’s something to be proud of, too.”

——— Online: Nike ad: http://bit.ly/9XIUv9 Appalachia Rising: www.appalachiarising.org Faces of Coal: http://www.facesofcoal.org/index.php

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Mining activists demand WVU, Nike pull uniform ad

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Activists trying to stop mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia are furious over a Nike Inc. promotional ad for a new West Virginia football uniform designed in tribute to the 29 victims of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion.

The problem is not the color of the gear — off-white that appears coated in coal dust — or the number 29 on the coal-black helmets.

It’s the depiction of a mountaintop removal mine behind the image of a player, complete with flat, treeless mountaintop, the sound of an explosion and the image of falling rock.

The ad appears to be a tacit endorsement of the controversial form of strip mining, activists argued Thursday, and it should be yanked immediately.

WVU football is a uniting force for a small state that lacks a professional team, and Danny Chiotos of Charleston, youth organizer for the Student Environmental Action Coalition, said for the Mountaineers to seemingly take a side with this ad is upsetting people.

“I’m largely amused by it and kind of bewildered by it,” Chiotos said. “They should come up with a better ad that actually promotes WVU football and the memory of the miners and mine safety.”

By depicting a surface mine that also resembles the open pit mines of western states like Wyoming, the ad also misses a key point about Upper Big Branch: The Massey Energy Co. mine that exploded April 5 was an underground operation.

The West Virginia athletic department issued a brief statement Thursday, saying the intent was to honor coal miners and their heritage. The graphics were designed by Nike and reviewed by WVU officials.

“The intent was for the player on the field to be surrounded by coal and not as an endorsement of any one form of mining technology,” the statement said. “We are in dis-

AP Photo/Nike, HO In this image released by Nike on Tuesday, shows a Nike promotional ad showing the West Virginia University college football uniform. Mountaintop removal mining activists are demanding Nike pull its promotional ad for a new West Virginia football uniform because it features a strip mine. The gear was designed in tribute to 29 men killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. But activists,including Bob Webb, point out the mine was an underground operation. They say the ad suggests WVU and Nike endorse the controversial form of strip mining, and Webb wants apologies to the people harmed by such mines.

cussions with Nike about the graphic.”

Oregon-based Nike did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages.

The ad plunges both the school and the world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing maker into one of West Virginia’s most emotionally charged and political divisive issues.

Mountaintop removal was the sole issue of a candidate who ran in last week’s special primary to fill the seat of late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and both industry and environmentalists are lobbying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the practice.

The coal-themed Pro Combat gear will be worn for one game only this season, the Nov. 26 Backyard Brawl at Pittsburgh.

Naoma activist Bo Webb demand-

ed the immediate removal of the ad and apologies to the people in the southern coalfields who have been hurt by mountaintop mining.

“I am so angry. I love football, and I will not watch WVU again,” said Webb, who was in Washington, D.C., with other activists on Monday, urging President Barack Obama’s administration to outlaw mountaintop removal. It was a prelude to a much larger “Appalachia Rising” rally planned for Sept. 27.

“I hope the players understand that they’re being used and rise up. I’d like them to say, ‘I’m not being pimped out by Nike and the state of West Virginia and the coal industry,” he said, “and I would like to see WVU admit, ‘We made a huge mistake.’”

Webb said it’s possible the ad was designed by an artist who didn’t realize the implications of using

strip mine imagery, but he’s skeptical of Oregon-based Nike.

“Maybe they’re naive, but I doubt it,” he said. “I seriously doubt it.”

Mountaintop removal is done mainly in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Forests are clear-cut, explosives blast apart the ridgetops, and massive machines scoop the exposed coal from multiple seams. The debris left behind is dumped into valleys, covering streams with what are called valley fills.

Coal operators say it’s the most efficient way to reach some reserves, but people who live near the mines say it’s too destructive, ruining their home values, their environment and their health.

The industry, too, is planning a rally in Washington. Its Sept. 15

Continued on Page 55

been clear in rejecting the false suggestion that any of the steps EPA is taking actually threaten to weaken the economy or increase unemployment.”

Next January, the EPA plans to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming, another cause of alarm for the coal miners.

Rockefeller has sponsored legislation to suspend that for two years.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., urged support for Rockefeller’s measure.

“We are not going to let the EPA regulate coal out of business,” he said.

Although the rally was billed as bipartisan and a number of Democrats spoke, there were some partisan comments, especially from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He said that this administration and current Congress are the most anti-coal in history.

“Send them a message on November 2,” he yelled to cheers.

The rival rally was organized by the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Music Saves Mountains campaign, which fea-

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite From left, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., attend a rally with coal mining supporters from the Appalachian states near the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 15.

tures singers and musicians who support the group’s anti-mountaintop mining effort. Only three-dozen or so people showed

up, but this isn’t the main event: opponents expect thousands to attend their Appalachia Rising rally in D.C. on Sept. 27.

People here sported signs like, “Topless Mountains are Obscene” and “Save a Mountain, Build a Windmill.”

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DEP names panel to help guide W.Va. gas drilling

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Six gas company representatives were named Thursday to a new nine-member task force that will help the Department of Environmental Protection determine how to better regulate West Virginia's booming industry.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman, who provided the names to The Associated Press, also appointed a lobbyist for the West Virginia Environmental Council, a coal industry lawyer and an advocate for landowners' rights.

The DEP is reviewing oil and gas operations amid the growing rush to tap the natural gas supply in the Marcellus shale field

that underlies West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

Huffman is considering a twotiered regulatory system — one for conventional wells and one for the kind of deep, horizontally drilled wells that are required to reach the Marcellus reserves.

The task force will try to find consensus on some issues as DEP staff write the necessary rules, regulations and legislation.

Huffman has said the number of gas wells being permitted in West Virginia is growing faster than his inspectors' ability to keep pace. How to hire and pay the salaries of more inspectors is among the issues to be worked out.

The industry representatives on

the task force are: • Mike Brownell, director of regulatory affairs for Oklahomabased Chesapeake Energy Corp. and former chief of the water resources management division at the Susquehanna River Basin Commission; • Joe Dawley, an attorney with EQT Corp. of Pittsburgh and former general counsel to the West Virginia DEP; • James Grey, president of Triana Services Co. of Charleston; • Denny Harton, former chief executive of GasSearch Corp. of Parkersburg and a former president of the Independent Oil & Gas Association; • Ted Streit, vice president of operations for Gaddy Engineering Co. of Charleston

and chairman of the West Virginia Land & Mineral Owners Association oil and gas committee; • and Don Supcoe, secretary and general counsel for Colorado-based Energy Corporation of America.

Rounding out the committee are Dave McMahon of the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization; Nick Preservati, an attorney with the West Virginia Coal Association; and Don Garvin, legislative coordinator for the West Virginia Environmental Council. The council represents more than 50 groups around the state.

Huffman hopes to brief Gov. Joe Manchin on his plans in November, then offer proposals to legislators in January.

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Rand Paul speaks at coal appreciation day Paul said what many people don’t realize is just how many business are interrelated with the coal industry.

Republican Senate nominee “If you work in the Pizza Hut Rand Paul was among the mix here, the coal miners come in of speakers at the second Coal Appreciation Day, held Saturday, there and buy pizza,” he said.

“We need to be, I think, proud of Aug. 14 at the Knott County the coal industry.”

Sportsplex. Built on a former He said that there are also two mountaintop removal site with aluminum plants in Henderson coal severance tax money, this that have chosen the area as was a highly appropriate locatheir location because of cheap tion for the event. electricity, and As part of his if we get cap campaign trail, “We have a president and trade and Paul made the stop who is forcing the EPA their electricity to Knott County down our throats. Even prices go up, on this day to they will be show thousands of without changing the to shut Eastern rules, the EPA is stifling forced down, resulting Kentuckians that the permit process, and in the loss of he understands people (are) out of work more jobs. their concerns as citizens of a local- here because of the presi- Paul said he shares a lot of ity, in which the common ground economy is fueled dent and his policies.” with the people by coal.

“I’m of the opin~ Rand Paul of Eastern Kentucky. ion that coal is an “I think people incredibly important part of in the country side are independKentucky, past, present and ent spirits,” he said. “They may future,” he said. own a gun. I own a gun. They Paul said that it is not only the may not want to be told what to miners, whose jobs are affected do all the time. I don’t like by the coal industry. being told what to do all the “A lot of people try to downtime, and they don’t think that play it and say, ‘oh it’s not that someone somewhere else that many jobs,’” he said. “But it’s thinks they’re smarter than them, not just the jobs out here.”

By Kendall Atkins Livick Staff Writer

News-Express photos by Jerry Boggs Local legislators including state Representatives Leslie Combs(above) and state Senator Ray Jones took to the state at the Rally for Coal held Saturday at the Knott County Sportsplex to express their support for the coal industry and decry legislation they view as an attack on coal mining.

Paul speaking at a coal appreciation event in Knott County said that Obama “cares nothing about Kentucky and cares even less about Kentucky coal.” The Kentucky candidate is strongly against a federally enforced cap and trade scheme, which he has noted would punish the coal industry and cause electricity prices to rise. AP Photo. should tell them what to do.”

That someone who thinks they’re smarter he was referring to is President Obama.

“I think that’s the way I perceive our President,” Paul said.

“He probably means well, but he thinks he knows better than those people living here, what to do. Part of our philosophies as Republicans is, that we believe you know what’s best for you, and you know what’s best for your family.”

Paul made a point of stating that his philosophy is not to say that society should just run amuck, but rather that people should be entitled to their own decision making.

“There are certain rules,” he said. “You can’t harm people physically, and you can’t do certain things, but pretty much, we want you to be left alone to make decisions for you and your family — where you go to church, where you work — and so, we’re more for keeping the government out of your way.”

This is the kind of philosophy that has earned Paul criticism in the past, regarding his take on mining regulations. He said some of the statements in the media have portrayed a mischaracterization of his position.

“All the headlines say, ‘Rand Paul doesn’t believe in regulations.’ Well that’s just not true,” Paul said. “There are certain regulations out there, and they do

help us. Obviously everybody wants the walls and the roof supported in mines.”

He said the only issue he has is when authorities shut down a mine because of a broken light, or something similar that is not directly related to safety precaution.

“Sure you should still fix the broken tail light, so I’m not event against that, but I’m just saying let’s not just shut down coal mines because you have infractions that don’t involve safety,” he said.

Aside from wanting to set the record straight, Paul said he came to coal appreciation day, not only to show similarities between himself and the people of Eastern Kentucky as part of his campaign, but also because he simply likes the area and the friendly people in it.

“I think they appreciate and respect the fact that someone cares about this part of the state and is willing to come out here,” he said. “Some of the best friends I’ve made in the campaign are like from Harlan and Middlesborough and Hazard, and all over.”

Paul said he has been to the area a lot recently and plans on making more trips.

Besides the speakers, Coal Appreciation day included free food and festivities such as games and a performance from Stella Parton.

Bearse’s college friend, Zach Gibson, who is in his same major and has known him since Freshman year, agreed that Bearse stands out in a way that few do.

“He’s got his mind set on what he wants to do. Since I met him freshman year, he’s known what he wants to do and he still holds true to that,” Gibson said.

He said, part of the reason Bearse is ahead of the game, is that his first internship was a very positive experience, and he knew immediately this was the job for him.

“A lot of students are in the here and now,” Gibson said.

“Even with interning, every student just interns to find out what they want to do. I think he gained that before a lot of students do.”

Gibson said, Bearse’s work ethic in school and plenty of internship experience, have given him an insight into the industry, and he never hesitates to take charge of leadership roles during group projects.

“He can be laid back, but at the same time, he’s very ambi-

tious to where he wants to get things done and wants to get things accomplished,” he said. ”He has a good foundation for what he wants to do in life.” — which is to obtain a position in management.

“He’s got the work ethic to one day be president of a mining complex,” Gibson said.

Friends of Bearse said this work ethic most likely has everything to do with his upbringing.

Gibson said he thinks his friend’s ambition and drive come from his dad.

Gullett agreed, saying, “I think he’s picked up a lot of Charlie’s good skills. I think that’s really made Chas what he is today. I think it speaks highly of his dad the way Chas has turned out.”

His dad said while he never forced the industry on Chas, he is glad they have yet another common interest to share.

“I have never pushed him to go in a specific direction, but rather encouraged his interests,” he said. “We gave him the opportunity to choose any career. He chose mining because he likes

it, and he can make a career of it right here at home. My pride in him stems from who he is, not the direction he's chosen; but it's great having him in the business, because it's another thing we can do together.”

Both father and son are excited about the idea of working for the same company. Chas said he has a great time thinking about where this career could take him.

“Every day that goes by, it seems like I get more and more passionate,” he said.

His dad is happy and proud that his son earned this opportunity in the first place.

“Chas and I are lucky to be working for a company that understands the value of developing talent. I started with Massey in 1983, doing the same things he's doing now,” he said.

“Today we have about 25 engineering intern students in Massey. These are great opportunities for our young men and women, right here at home, in an industry with great importance to our country.”

Bearse said he is concentrating

on building a skillset now in school, that will benefit him long-term in his career. Though he said he wants to prepare himself to hit the ground running when he graduates, those who know him think he’s already hit the ground running — so hard, in fact, that he ended up underground — and that’s exactly where he wants to be.

According to the University of Kentucky website, students in the mining engineering program who choose to co-p with mining companies, will have their choices of many training opportunities, which include on-thejob training and a steady income. A student in this type of program will usually graduate in a minimum of five years, alternating school with periods of working in the industry, during spring, summer and fall academic semesters. For more information about University of Kentucky’s mining engineering program, visit http://www.engr.uky.edu/mng/.

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Mining environmental engineers: Bearse bets on future in coal him had done.

“I’d never really put any thought into it until my senior year of high school,” he said. “I knew as soon While most college students are as I set foot underground, that floating along, changing majors that’s what I wanted to do.” and not having a clue what they “Chas started working underwant to do for the rest of their ground a few days after he turned lives, Charles L. Bearse IV of 18,” his father said. “He spent that University of Kentucky, is right on the ball. Charles, whose friends summer on the working end of a and family refer to him as “Chas,” shovel, which for him was like getting paid to go to the gym.” is well on his way to a successful Charles said his son was a certimine engineering career. fied miner before his Freshman Son of Charles L. Bearse III and year of college. That next sumKaren Bearse, and sister of Anne mer, he was eager to get back Bearse, Chas said he wants to underground, but his dad wanted learn as much as possible about to make sure he understood that his future industry while in colthis industry was hard work. lege, so that he can hit the ground Bearse said he understands the running when he gets out. He level of work involved, but for already has a great start. As an him, it is well worth it. intern at Massey Energy — “It’s hard work, that you can through which he has a scholaractually physically see what ship toward his education, continyou’re doing every day. It’s somegent on the plan that he will work thing to be proud of,” he said. for the company when he graduAnd as for the recent criticism ates — he already has a future job and attacks on mining? Bearse waiting on him. said never once has he heard anyHow can he be so certain that thing about mining that made him this is what he wants to do? Its question his decision to go into just something he said is in his this industry. blood.

“I’m I guess kind of “You can ask just about “There’s no way I’ve been discourlike a third genera- any coal miner out tion engineer,” there if they’re proud of aged,” he said. “If it’s Bearse said. what they’re doing, and anything, encouraged me to His grandfather studied Engineering they’ll tell you they’re study as much as I absolutely proud of can while I’m here at Brown University, and his what they do,” he said. and not take it for father did the same “It’s not just a job. It’s granted.”

He said he really at Michigan Tech, a profession. believes in what this where he concenindustry stands for trated specifically in –– Chas Bearse and really feels that mining. He is now the work of mining the President of improves life for everyone in this Sidney Coal Company, which is area. part of Massey. The fourth Bearse He noted that the state of man said he wants to follow in his Kentucky has the 4th lowest cost father’s footsteps, and of this, he of electricity, saying, “It definitely has been sure for a while now. He has it’s benefits for the state of started developing those engineerKentucky. It’s proven that there’s ing skills at an early age.

“Chas has always liked mechani- 250 years worth of reserves left.

We’re doing our job to mine coal cal things and wheels,” his father safe and to do it productively.”

Charles said. “In high school he Bearse said he will not let nay raced motocross. The first year, as we worked on the bike each week, sayers affect his attitude toward the job that he loves, noting that I showed him how to maintain it. some people just don’t take the After that, he did it all himself.” time to think about it.

But it wasn’t until high school, “The majority of people don’t that Bearse knew exactly what he think about where their electricity wanted to do with these skills — comes from,” he said. “They don’t the same thing his father before

By Kendall Atkins Staff Writer

Charles ‘Chas’ Bearse is a mining engineering student at the University of Kentucky. think about the men who work underground every day and put their hard work into it so that we can get that coal.”

He said one of his favorite aspects of the industry, is the bond of comradery that the men form with one another.

“You think about the amount of time that they spend with each other,” he said. “There’s nobody else under there. It’s just them. It really is like a family. You watch out for one another.”

He said there is also a shared sense of pride in the work that they do on a daily basis.

“You can ask just about any coal miner out there if they’re proud of what they’re doing, and they’ll tell you they’re absolutely proud of what they do,” he said. “It’s not just a job. It’s a profession.”

That pride and ambition was evident to Bearse’s internship employers at Massey.

“The past two summers, anything I’ve asked him to do, he’s taken seriousy,” said Troy Gullett, surface mine engineer of Logan County. “He’s not afraid of work by any means. He’s a real good communicator. He’ll make a great manager in the coal company someday.”

Gullett said he, himself recently graduated from college, and he believes Bearse has qualities of maturity and wisdom beyond his years that are rare to find. He said it is unusual to see a college student who is so driven and set on what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

“I graduated in 2008, and I’ll say that Chas is one of few,” he said.

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ROGER L. NICHOLSON Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (304) 760-2616 Direct (815) 642-4368 Fax RNicholson@intlcoal.com

Dear Editor: A number of career politicians in the coal states find themselves in tight races for the right to continue serving their constituents in Congress after November 2nd this year. Their support of cap-and-trade and the EPA’s de facto moratorium on coal mining permits in Appalachia have all been subject to close scrutiny. Candidates whose past actions undermine their protestations that they are “friends of coal” and support coal industry jobs are being called upon to explain themselves clearly.

These politicians and the national media are focused on the discontent of the electorate, and upon election-year politics.

Many of these politicians in the tight coal-state races appear mystified that their seemingly secure positions are under siege. Perhaps the fact that they are confounded is a sign that they are tone-deaf to the crystal-clear message of their constituents.

The discontented voter sentiment in the coal states should be quite understandable to our elected officials. You see, congressmen in tight races, like Reps. Chandler, Rahall and Boucher, fear for their jobs. Thousands of us in the mining industry fear for our jobs under the Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate. Those who fear for their livelihood will become quite vocal and active in self-defense, which can place politicians who don’t fight for their constituents’ jobs in serious jeopardy.

Perhaps the bigger source of discontent, however, is the disingenuous and sometimes outright deceptive platitudes and justifications offered by our leadership. The electorate, when properly informed and attentive, is capable of seeing past the ribbons and bows to the essence of legislative initiatives. The nation is crying out for leaders who stand up like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; unfortunately, our leaders more resemble Dancing with the Stars, tap-dancing their way past their constituents’ direct inquiries.

One does not have to even search for examples; they lie about like autumn leaves. I’ll name a few. Rep. Nick Rahall (DWV3) has noted his role in the passage of the initial Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977 as evidence for his support of the coal mining industry. While jobs in his district are under daily attack, given his role in enacting the initial surface mining laws, one could reasonably expect him to stand up and say to the EPA: “Surface mining is allowed under the Act; valley fills are allowed under the Act and are required for each mining operation—surface and deep; your approach is inconsistent with what we in Congress contemplated and you are killing Appalachian jobs and our nation’s baseload power industry.” Instead, from Rep. Rahall, we hear silence…or the comment that “the EPA is simply doing its job.”

Union leaders, who are essentially politicians, remain blind apologists for the Obama administration, much to the chagrin, I am sure, of their membership. Recently, Phil Smith of the UMWA had the temerity to say that there is not an Obamadriven “war on coal,” and that “the many legal rulings that have come out regarding mining are driving much of what the EPA and others are doing.” Huh? When campaigning, President Obama openly threatened to bankrupt the coal industry.

No court ruling has mandated that EPA should assert itself wholly and completely into the mine permitting process that had been delegated by Congress to the states and the Army Corps of Engineers, thus subsuming the balance of power carefully crafted by the legislative branch of government.

Other elected officials who either voted for cap-and-trade or sat on the sidelines during this important battle, try to justify their votes as “keeping a seat at the table.” They fall back on unrealistic estimates to try to confuse and undercut the fact that, if enacted, cap-and-trade would, as the President threatened, crush the coal industry and dramatically raise the cost of electricity to those of us in the Appalachian states and the heartland of this country. No matter what our politicians may espouse, you can’t kill a bedrock industry without killing jobs.

The message is clear: those of us in the coal industry must fight for our jobs, just as career politicians fight for theirs.

Those in office can keep those jobs by listening and standing up with courage and frankness to fight for their constituents’ livelihoods with the same tenacity as they defend their own seat of power.

Very truly yours, Roger L. Nicholson Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel International Coal Group, Inc.

Arch Coal 2Q profit surges on global sales

By Jim Suhr AP Business Writer ST. LOUIS (AP) — Arch Coal Inc. said Friday it reversed losses from a year ago during the second quarter, handily beating Wall Street’s expectations on the strength of global markets and a nearly 40 percent jump in sales.

The St. Louis miner, one of the world’s biggest coal producers, said it expected an even stronger showing for the remainder of the year, and raised the lower end of its adjusted annual earnings guidance by a dime, excluding non-cash charges.

“Coal markets have improved considerably since this time last year but remain well below the levels of the bull market of 2008,” said Steven Leer, Arch’s chairman and chief executive.

Leer said global markets for higher-margin metallurgical coal — the kind used in making steel — remain tight while conditions for thermal coal that fuels power plants “have strengthened meaningfully,” with those utilities — notably those served by Arch’s western U.S. operations — drawing down their stockpiles.

Arch fuels about 8 percent of all U.S. electrical generation.

“Looking ahead, we expect to continue managing through any ongoing operational challenges and deliver even stronger results in the year’s second half,” Leer said.

Leer said during a conference call that Arch is upbeat about coal’s prospects at least in the near term, citing favorable weather patterns — chiefly lingering summer heat that could drive up use of air conditioners — and an improving U.S. economy and growth of the global appetite for coal.

“We have positioned Arch to capitalize well on such trends,” Leer said.

Arch said it now expects adjusted earnings for the year of $1.10 — up from its $1 forecast in April — to $1.40 per share, excluding non-cash charges. In January, the company said it expected 50 cents to $1 per share.

Arch shares rose $1.24, or 5.5 percent, to $23.74 in afternoon trading.

Arch posted net income of $66.2 million, or 41 cents per

Arch Coal Mountain Laurel mining operation share, during the April-throughJune period. A year ago, Arch lost $15.1 million, or 11 cents per share, on the weight of a 20 percent drop in sales, production cutbacks and weak prices for competing natural gas.

Revenue rose to $764.3 million versus $554.6 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, 25 cents per share on revenue of $765.4 million.

Arch said the average sales price of coal per ton was 6 percent higher than a year ago, though operating costs inched up 2 percent per ton. Arch said it averaged $18.86 for each of the 38.1 million tons of coal it sold in the second quarter, better production than the 27.4 million last year when black ore fetched $19.43 a ton.

Arch left its production outlook for the year unchanged, still expecting 147 million to 155 million tons, excluding coal bought from third parties.

Over the first half of this year, Arch said it has earned $64.5 million, or 40 cents per share, on $1.48 billion in revenue, up from $15.4 million, or 11 cents per share, on $1.24 billion in sales during the same time a year ago.

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15 buses depart Pikeville, bound for Washington coal rally

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer Though their reasons for going were different, the dozens of people gathered at the Landmark Inn on Tuesday morning shared a common goal: Supporting the coal industry.

They are among thousands expected to converge on Washington D.C., on Wednesday to attend a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” an effort being led by the FACES of Coal organization.

More than a dozen buses were lined up at the Landmark Tuesday morning, waiting to carry Eastern Kentuckians to attend the rally.

Some of those preparing to leave for the nation’s capital Tuesday depend directly on the coal industry.

Linda Potter, the wife of a foreman for TECO Coal subsidiary Premier Elkhorn Coal, said the industry is not only important to her, but to the community as a whole.

“This is a coal mining area, our livelihoods here in Eastern Kentucky depend on coal,” she said. “Every job here ... depends on coal.”

By traveling to Washington, she said, she hopes to change the minds of the decision-makers.

“We would like the government to see we’re not really a backwoods area,” she said. “We live in the hills by choice. We have educated people. We’re not a metropolis, but we have amenities that they have.

“And we’d like to keep that and grow,” she said.

Some making the trip to the rally, like Gary Weddington, who owns the Johns Creekbased car wash equipment company, Weddington Sales and Service, depend on the industry to keep their non-coal businesses alive.

Weddington said he was traveling to Washington to show support for an industry that has an impact on all other local industries.

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Coal industry supporters prepare to get on one of more than a dozen buses which were set to carry them to Washington D.C. to join up with thousands to hold a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” event in the nation’s capital.

“The people that work for coal spend their money with us,” he said. “The jobs that coal creates filters down to us.

“I hope they can wake up some of bureaucrats in Washington and make them see that coal is important to our nation,” Weddington said. “I think they’ll see the numbers and that the people do really care and that we want to keep our jobs and our way of life.”

Julie Wilson, with Coal Operators and Associates, said the rally would afford those gathered a chance to show the importance of coal to the nation.

“Our only way of living is coal,” Wilson said. “And the rest of America doesn’t realize they, also, are dependent on coal. They don’t know their clothes, their food, their jewelry, everything, comes from some sort of energy.”

State Rep. Leslie Combs said in a statement Tuesday that she would be attending the rally to help make a stand for the coal industry at a time when coal

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Coal industry supporters sold T-shirts to those preparing Tuesday morning to travel to Washington D.C. for a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” set to be held Wednesday. advocates claim that federal regulations are endangering their business.

“If we don’t stand up for ourselves, we have no one to blame

if all of these changes take away a life we have known for generations,” she said. “The end result is fewer jobs and more expensive electricity.”

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U.S. mining official to tour Mingo post-mine land uses

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mingo County’s innovative use of post-mine land for economic development and diversity could have some bearing on future mining regulations.

For years, the county’s Land Use Master Plan has been used as a model for other counties in the state of West Virginia to emulate.

In 2009, the West Virginia Legislature adopted a post-mine land use bill, making it mandatory for county economic development authorities to establish master land use plans.

Under these plans, lands that are near transportation infrastructure, such as four-lane highways, are targeted for residential, commercial and industrial development, while other mined lands may be used for alternate energy production.

Next week Joe Pizarchik, director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining, will tour some of Mingo County’s post-mine land sites. The tour will include an 11-mile section of the King Coal Highway, the Air Transportation Park, Twisted Gun Golf Course and the Wood Products Industrial Park. He joins a growing list of cabinet members who have traveled from the nation’s capital to Mingo County for the same purpose.

Following the tour, Pizarchik will participate in a meeting with local leaders at the Larry Joe Harless Community Center in Gilbert, W.Va. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin extended the written invitation for the director to come so he could learn about the state’s approach to postmine land use. The governor also wants Pizarchik to meet with the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority to see how the board is using postmined lands as one of its principal tools in economic development and diversity.

Manchin said he wants

Pizarchik to see first-hand some of the Redevelopment Authority’s outstanding results.

“I believe this experience will be very informative in making the policy judgments that you face as director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,” Manchin wrote.

The governor further explained that because much of West Virginia’s coal producing regions have steep, rugged terrain that makes economic diversification difficult because of the lack of flat land for development.

“We have identified the surface mining process as a way we can provide this resource at no cost to the taxpayers, so that these areas can have a viable economic future after the mineable coal is gone,” Manchin said.

Manchin also expressed concern about portions of the director’s regulatory agenda that proposes to restrict variances for post-mine land use for commercial, residential and industrial development and to require reforestation of lands that were previously forested.

“Control of land uses and land use planning is a state and local matter that can most effectively be handled at that level instead of being directed from Washington,” Manchin wrote.

Many proponents of coal believe the industry is under attack and county officials hope to educate the director on what can be done once the coal is mined out.

Randall Harris, project manager for the MCRA, said they believe the people in Washington, D.C., who are making decisions about surface mining are doing so without being fully informed.

During Thursday’s monthly Redevelopment Authority meeting, Tom Clarke, director of West Virginia Mining and Reclamation, explained that if Pizarchik makes the decision to go ahead with proposed regulatory changes, he would do so after seeing the full picture.

Photo submitted. King Coal Highway

Clarke agreed that some of the changes could impact the use of post-mine land for economic development.

“We need to positively tell Mingo County’s story, to show him the economic benefits despite the topographical challenges we face,” Clarke said.

“He needs to see this is really happening.”

Mike Whitt, executive director of the MCRA, said Pizarchik has been told that the county sites have been left flat and undeveloped.

“He’s looking at changing some of the regulations on reclamation mining projects and we want him to look at real projects, that create real jobs, that benefit the citizens of the area,” Whitt said. “He’s hearing from opponents of coal that nothing is happening and that’s not true.”

MCRA board chairman Terry Sammons said it’s wrong that property that can be used for economic development is not being used for that purpose.

“There are people that are trying to put variables in place to keep things from moving forward,” Sammons said. “We are

the ones who are affected. This is a very critical juncture for all of us.”

Sammons said it’s crucial to try and determine what policies will be enacted on a federal level.

Board member Steve Kominar said he’s all for responsible mining, but he’s also for a responsible future.

“Twenty-five years ago the opportunity for advancement for the next generation was not there, “ Kominar said. “This is a citizen-driven effort.”

Jeff Wood, energy development specialist for the Office of Coalfield Community Development, said he believes the state is in compliance with policies about which the federal government has expressed concerns.

Two representatives of U.S. Congress Nick Joe Rahall, (DW.Va.) were also in attendance after touring various post-mine sites.

Both expressed amazement at what had been done.

Whitt told the group that none of the constructed sites would have been possible without public/private partnerships.

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Mingo renewable energy projects receive funding

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Two Mingo County renewable energy projects have been approved for funding by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).

These are among six West Virginia projects which will share $239,008 in funding by the ARC. Renewable energy comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat that are naturally replenished.

One project calls for the placement of solar panels on the Twisted Gun Golf Course clubhouse. This will demonstrate the potential for photovoltaic power systems to convert sunlight directly into electricity on lands left open to the sky. The installation of a 2.5 kilowatt PV system at Twisted Gun will enable the course to generate some, if not all of its daily electrical energy demand, exchanging daytime excess power for future energy needs.

The Mingo County golf course was one of the first post mine land use projects in Appalachia.

Its success is being widely used as an example of what can be done to improve communities when mining is completed.

The 4H Camp Energy Crop Planting Project will involve placing a selection of tree seedlings on 38.5 acres of the slope portions of a site which is being reclaimed as a regional youth camp.

At maturity, the seedlings will be selectively harvested to supply feedstock to one of the wood energy plants being constructed in the region, as well as providing income to support the operation of the youth camp.

The plantings will run some 2,100 feet from a wildlife grove on the southeast section of the site to a second wildlife grove on the northeastern portion, thus positioning the resulting forest for easy future harvest and providing a wildlife con-

nector.

Randall Harris, projects manager for the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said this program is an excellent fit because it allows the county to leverage its natural resources into value-added activities.

“We are very thankful to have been awarded these two grants,” said Harris who wrote the grant application. “It allows us to further demonstrate that post mine land use contributes directly to economic development purposes, and it demonstrates our interest in complementing traditional energy sources with renewable energy production.”

A principal economic development concern in West Virginia is the development of valueadded activities to complement existing industries, as well as the encouragement of high-technology business endeavors.

Surface mining impacts 16 West Virginia counties, 14 of which are designated as distressed or at risk by the ARC. After mining, local communities are left with developable land, but often that land does not lend itself to re-use which can maintain mining employment levels or increase the number of local jobs. Renewal energy production may be a productive re-use for these lands, and officials hope the grant program will provide an impetus for coal operators and landowners to explore such options, which have great potential for the creation of “green” collar jobs.

Statics show that in 2008, about 19 percent of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13 percent coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.2 percent from hydroelectricity.

New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 2.7 percent and are growing very rapidly..

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Wright Concrete receives Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award from Congressman Hal Rogers

By Sharon Dodson The Center for Rural Development SOMERSET — The region’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs who play a vital role in growing the economy in Southern and Eastern Kentucky were honored Sept. 13 at the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA) program hosted at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset.

Among those taking top honors were a pair of Pike County brothers who built one of the region’s most successful companies.

Shannon and Kendall Wright, owners of Wright Concrete and Construction were named top forprofit business. It was the third time they had been a finalist for the award.

U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05), special guest speaker, helped recognize all of the EIEA finalists and celebrated the accomplishments of the win-

ning award recipients in each of the four business categories.

“It is no secret small businesses create most of the new jobs in this country,” Rogers told business leaders and entrepreneurs at the EIEA luncheon. “You are not only providing those new jobs. You are also providing a spark in your community that will lead others to bigger things.

“I am here to encourage you and thank you for the good work that you do,” he added. “This banquet is all about rewarding some very special people who have gone the extra mile and make a real difference in their community.”

The 2010 EIEA award winners and finalists in their respective categories are as follows: • For-Profit Business: Shannon Wright and Kendall Wright, owners, Wright Concrete and Construction, Inc., Dorton, Ky. Finalists: Tommy and Gwen Mitchell, owners, Rocky Top Log

Furniture, and William P. Hardy, director of planning, Carhartt, Inc., Irvine, Ky. • For-Profit Small Business: Kaye Bowman, Stacey Wilson, and David Bowman, owners, Community Medical Services, Columbia, Ky. Finalists: Frances D. Snowden, owner, Ravenna Florist and Greenhouse, Ravenna, Ky., and Timothy Howard and David Howard, co-owners, Howard Engineering and Geology, Inc., Harlan, Ky. • Start-Up Business: Amber Stone, owner, Body of Stone Fitness, London, Ky. Finalists: Nick Noble, president and co-founder, The Fortress Group, Inc., dba Park Mammoth Resort, Park City, Ky., and Sandra G. Dingus, owner, president, and CEO, Drug Testing Centers of

Continued on Page 28

Brothers Shannon and Kendall Wright, third and fifth from left, owners of Wright Concrete and Construction, Inc. in Dorton, are the recipients of the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award (EIEA) in the For-Profit Business category. Presenting them with the award are, Jerry Rickett, at far left, president and CEO of Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp.; Dr. Robert Rogow, second from left, dean of Eastern Kentucky University’s (EKU) College of Business and Technology; U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05), fourth from left; and Lonnie Lawson, at far right, president and CEO of The Center for Rural Development. The award winners were announced Sept. 13 at the EIEA luncheon held at The Center in Somerset. The program is sponsored by EKU’s College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., and The Center.

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AP Enterprise: Old-style coal plants expanding

By Matthew Brown Associated Press Writer WYODAK, Wyo. (AP) — Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry’s standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come.

An Associated Press examination of U.S. Department of Energy records and information provided by utilities and trade groups shows that more than 30 traditional coal plants have been built since 2008 or are under construction.

The construction wave stretches from Arizona to Illinois and South Carolina to Washington, and comes despite growing public wariness over the high environmental and social costs of fossil fuels, demonstrated by tragic mine disasters in West Virginia, the Gulf oil spill and wars in the Middle East.

The expansion, the industry’s largest in two decades, represents an acknowledgment that highly touted “clean coal” technology is still a long ways from becoming a reality and underscores a renewed confidence among utilities that proposals to regulate carbon emissions will fail. The Senate last month scrapped the leading bill to curb carbon emissions following opposition from Republicans and coal-state Democrats.

“Building a coal-fired power plant today is betting that we are not going to put a serious financial cost on emitting carbon dioxide,” said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at the University of California-Berkeley.

“That may be true, but unless most of the scientists are way off the mark, that’s pretty bad public policy.”

Federal officials have long struggled to balance coal’s hidden costs against its more conspicuous role in providing half the nation’s electricity.

Hoping for a technological solution, the Obama administration devoted $3.4 billion in stimulus spending to foster “clean-coal” plants that can capture and store greenhouse gases. Yet new investments in traditional coal plants total at least 10 times that amount — more than $35 billion.

Utilities say they are clinging to coal because its abundance makes

it cheaper than natural gas or nuclear power and more reliable than intermittent power sources such as wind and solar. Still, the price of coal plants is rising and consumers in some areas served by the new facilities will see their electricity bill rise by up to 30 percent.

Industry representatives say those increases would be even steeper if utilities switched to more expensive fuels or were forced to adopt emission-reduction measures.

Approval of the plants has come from state and federal agencies that do not factor in emissions of carbon dioxide, considered the leading culprit behind global warming. Scientists and environmentalists have tried to stop the coal rush with some success, turning back dozens of plants through lawsuits and other legal challenges.

As a result, current construction is far more modest than projected a few years ago when 151 new plants were forecast by federal regulators. But analysts say the projects that prevailed are more than enough to ensure coal’s continued dominance in the power industry for years to come.

Sixteen large plants have fired up since 2008 and 16 more are under construction, according to records examined by the AP. Combined, they will produce an estimated 17,900 megawatts of electricity, sufficient to power up to 15.6 million homes — roughly the number of homes in California and Arizona combined.

They also will generate about 125 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to emissions figures from utilities and the Center for Global Development.

That’s the equivalent of putting 22 million additional automobiles on the road.

The new plants do not capture carbon dioxide. That’s despite the stimulus spending and an additional $687 million spent by the Department of Energy on clean coal programs.

DOE spokesman John Grasser acknowledged the new plants represent a missed chance to rein in carbon emissions. But he said more opportunities would arise as electricity consumption increases.

Experts say the widespread application of carbon-neutralizing technologies for coal plants remains at

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel least 15 to 20 years away.

“This is not something that’s going to happen tomorrow,” Grasser said. “You have to do the required research and development and take steps along the way.”

Producing clean coal power appears straightforward: Separate the carbon dioxide before it goes up the smokestack, then store it underground in geological formations.

Experimental trials have been successful but putting the concept into commercial practice has been stymied by high costs and the difficulty of isolating carbon dioxide from other gases.

“We are pushing the envelope as far as what’s possible,” said Jon LaCour, manager for the 115megawatt Wygen III coal plant, which came online in northeastern Wyoming this spring. “We have no way of capturing carbon.”

Inside the plant, a ton of coal per minute rumbles off conveyor belts from the nearby WyoDak mine.

Hulking steel pulverizers crush the fuel to the consistency of baby powder, fans blow it into a giant furnace and the coal goes up in flames that can top 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, producing steam to generate electricity.

WyGen is more efficient than earlier plants, burning about 20 percent less coal. Yet the process itself has changed little since

Thomas Edison built the first plant in 1882 in Manhattan.

And while dramatic advances have been made at the back end of coal plants — where Wygen’s operator, Black Hills Power, removes most of the nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and other acid-rain pollutants — efforts to curb greenhouse gases have lagged.

Black Hills spent $80 million on pollution controls for WyGen, bumping up its price tag to $247 million. Like most of the new fleet of plants, space was left at WyGen for the future installation of carbon-capture equipment.

As climate change emerged as a global dilemma in recent years, the coal industry at times appeared on the ropes.

Environmentalists trumpeted 100 plants dropped or delayed.

Regulators imposed tighter emission limits for acid rain pollutants and reined in destructive mining practices. And the recession dampened consumer demand for power, prompting some utilities to scrap expansion plans.

But coal has not gone away.

“The reason coal burns in this country is not because anyone likes the smog. It’s the cost,” said Daniel Scott, a coal industry analyst with Dahlman Rose & Company in New York.

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Ky. Senate candidate Paul tours plant to tout coal

By Dylan Lovan Associated Press Writer ROBARDS (AP) — Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul visited a power plant Wednesday to tout the importance of coal to the state’s low energy rates.

Paul said recent climate legislation that would place a fee on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, sometimes referred to as cap-and-trade, would kill industry in Kentucky.

The Bowling Green Republican visited a plant complex owned by the Big Rivers Electric Corporation in Henderson County. He said nearby aluminum plants that employ about 1,600 people wouldn’t be located in Kentucky if not for the state’s cheap electric power.

“All these people lose their jobs with cap-and-trade,” Paul said.

Electric consumers in Kentucky pay some of the lowest rates in the nation, and the state draws about 92 percent of its electric power from burning coal.

The climate legislation passed the House but Democrats in the Senate were forced to shelve plans last month because of a lack of Republican support. Paul said the legislation, which sought to cut carbon emissions from power plants, could make a comeback if Republicans lose seats in the Senate.

Paul’s Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, released a statement Wednesday criticizing Paul for calling coal “a very dirty form of energy” earlier this year.

Paul acknowledged making the statement, and said there are “cleaner” forms of energy creation, but added that coal-rich Kentucky should utilize its available resources.

Paul said Conway has reversed his position in order to oppose cap-and-trade legislation.

Conway said in a statement he is “opposed to any and all cap-andtrade legislation, which unfairly punishes coal states like Kentucky.”

AP Photo/The Gleaner, Darrin Phegley Rand Paul, center-right, candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to members of the media outside the Big Rivers Electric power plant.

The plan that failed in the Senate would have charged power plants, manufacturers and other large polluters for their heat-trapping carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming.

The House voted 219-212 last year for a plan featuring economic incentives to reduce carbon

emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

Republicans slammed the bill as an energy tax and jobs killer, arguing that the costs would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills and fuel costs that would lead manufacturers to take their factories overseas.

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Energy and Environment Cabinet prepares for Annual Governor’s Conference on the Environment Annual event set for Oct. 20-21 in Louisville FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) is working diligently to prepare a dynamic agenda for the 34th Governor’s Conference on the Environment. The conference takes place Oct. 20-21, 2010 at the Louisville Downtown Marriott.

“In today’s world, energy and environmental issues have direct connections with not only our state’s economy, but with the global economy,” said EEC Secretary Len Peters. “We have great opportunities and serious challenges with the logical association of these issues. With the conference, we want to advance a dialogue among government, business, community and academia leaders that address how we can move forward to become an energy leader while protecting our environment and promoting economic development.”

Confirmed speakers include Vic Staffieri, chief executive officer and president of E.On US; Steve Brown of the Environmental Council on the States; and Theresa Pugh of the American Public Power Association.

Workshops topics include air quality regulations; coal mining and water quality issues; land preservation and conservation; and BioEnergy, just to name a few.

The conference includes an exhibit hall for vendors wishing to display energy- and environmental-related products. Conference registration and exhibit booth reservations will begin Sept. 14, 2010. To register or to reserve booth space, visit the cabinet’s website at http://eec.ky.gov/Pages/default.asp x.

For additional conference information, contact Karen Wilson by e-mail at KarenL.wilson@ky.gov or call 502-564-3350.

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Rep. Keith Hall stands up for miners at “Bring Them Home Safe!” event

Submitted Photo Rep. Keith Hall speaks at Kentucky Coal Academy event. To his right is Sen. Brandon Smith and members of the Kentucky Coal Academy.

Frankfort — During midSeptember, Rep. Keith Hall stood with Kentucky coal miners, Kentucky Coal Academy representatives, elected officials and the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet secretary to increase awareness of coal mine safety throughout the Commonwealth.

The Kentucky Coal Academy’s theme for their 2010 safety campaign is “Bring Them Home Safe” which will be used in an aggressive media safety campaign including television and newspaper articles and safety posters for every Kentucky coal mine operation.

“As a card carrying Kentucky miner I am proud to stand up here with my brothers to defend coal mining,” said Hall. “I take offense to people outside of Eastern Kentucky who criticize coal mining but have no stake in the industry. Coal mining feeds our families, sends our kids to college, pays our mortgages, and provides us with health and retirement benefits. It is the major employer in Eastern Kentucky and certainly in my district which is the number one coal producing county in Kentucky.”

National industry sources report that coal production has increased 76 percent since 1970 while fatal

injuries have fallen by two-thirds in the last 18 years. The rise in production and the decrease in fatalities is evidence of the mine training improvements, better enforcement and compliance.

“It’s real easy to sit in judgment of others when you live in a big urban city that has Ford Motor Company, UPS, Toyota and others which employ tens of thousands of people,” continued Rep. Hall. “We don’t have the geographical conditions or the capital to entice large corporations to our area. Coal mining is our major economic engine and we’re proud of the jobs and benefits it provides.”

The month of September has been declared “Kentucky Coal Miner Safety Awareness Month” in Kentucky. Besides the media campaign, Kentucky Coal Academy officials will award “Coal Baron Certificates” to mine safety directors at receptions planned at KCA colleges throughout the month.

“It’s nice to see our coal miners and operators rewarded for their good work,” said Rep. Hall.

“These men and women put their lives on the line every day so we can enjoy cheap electricity and it’s time we applauded their good work.”

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2010 Commissioner’s award of excellence

By Kendall Atkins Livick Staff Writer Often ignored in the battle over the future of mountaintop removal mining, the work coal companies do to reclaim the land after it is mined was in the spotlight recently in Pikeville.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, a local business was praised and awarded for their work on a Pike County mine site. Commissioner of the Department for Natural Resources, Carl Campbell presented a local father and son duo with the 2010 Commissioner’s Award of Excellence in Reclamation at a small ceremony that took place at the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement in Pikeville. Campbell said he is proud of this effort and was thrilled to be there to present the award.

“It means a lot to me, because you read every day in the press about the negative aspects of mining,” he said.

Hank and Luke Salyer of LABCO, LLC, received this award for their reclamation work on a surface facility near Elkhorn City.

“Our company is a very small family company, and we seek out companies that have been mined before previously, and then we generally do what they call a remining reclamation project,” Hank said. “So we actually go on old property, and then we take what coal had been left on that property and do reclamation work.”

One of these tasks is what earned the Salyers this award.

The landowner working with LABCO, LLC, wishes to turn what was once mining land, into a “fish and wildlife habitat,” specifically for bats.

LABCO, LLC is working on planting grasses — orchardgrass, timothy and redtop grasses — as well as several legumes species, in order to create and maintain a vegetative cover. In addition, the company has

News-Express photo by Kendall Atkins Livick Hank Salyer and son Luke look over the plaque they’ve just been awarded, taking in this moment. incorporated in the reclamation plan, tree species with exfoliating bark, which will protect the Indiana Bat and other wildlife.

This project would be quite an undertaking for any company, but for a small company like that of the Salyers, this kind of accomplishment is impressive to say the least.

“There’s probably not three of four companies our size that even do this kind of stuff, because it’s just so overwhelming,” Hank said. “The mining industry, it’s changed a little bit over the past few years in that you have several agencies to deal with. You have a lot of mail, a lot of paperwork and a lot of forms to keep up with and reports to fill out.”

Hank said he credits his son, Luke with dealing with the heap of deskwork and red tape of this project, while he himself was responsible for the preliminary part of the permit.

Both father and son said they attribute part of the success of this project to the fact that this is a family business, and they share a strong bond. Because they spend so much time together in and out of work, business

endeavor discussions often follow them on family vacations and other leisure adventures.

“Probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done is working with my family, and probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done is working with my family,” Luke said, laughing.

Joking aside, Campbell said this company has set the bar for other mining businesses in this area by sending the message that mining can, and should be environmentally positive.

“They set the example in the region that they represent,” he said of the company.

Campbell said this kind of example is especially important in an area such as this, where so much of the economy depends on mining practices.

“The mining jobs really impact so many businesses besides just the coal miners themselves,” he said. “It’s every mom and pop little grocery store, and everybody that sells gas, and it really impacts a whole lot of people.

It’s really important to East Kentucky and Kentucky as a whole.”

In presenting the Salyers with the award, Campbell told them

their innovative mining practices have successfully minimized stream impact and brought much of the site back to its approximate original contour.

He added that wildlife in Kentucky and Virginia will be greatly enhanced by the company’s efforts and predicted that this would be the first of many awards the company would receive.

“I grew up in a mining region,” Campbell said. “I know how important mining is to the people of the region because jobs and their livelihood depends on it, so it’s really important to me to come out and give the reclamation award — to do something positive for the cooperators — and I do it too for some recognition for the regional inspectors.”

Eddie Kelly and Gene Blackburn, Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE) inspectors from the Pikeville Regional Office, nominated the site because they believed the company’s work to be exceptional and their commitment to the environment strong.

Luke said most of his work with his father involves property that was mined back in the 50s and 60s, when the methods of reclamation were not up to the standards that they are today.

“After we get done with that property, you can imagine how much better it looks, thinking of the quality of reclamation in 1950, as opposed to what it is in 2010,” he said.

Campbell said past recipients of the Commissioner’s Award have told him the prestige of the award, which was on public record, gave them credibility with clients, resulting in better business.

The Salyers said they are proud of this honor and couldn’t have done it without the help of the others at the company. They said this is only the beginning, and that they are already looking forward to future endeavors.

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Mine safety agency has new rule after W.Va. blast

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — The government announced an emergency rule in September that will require underground mines to do more to control explosive coal dust following the deadliest U.S. coal mine explosion in 40 years, the first major federal regulatory change since the disaster.

Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main announced the change at an industry conference in West Virginia’s southern coalfields. The change comes after growing evidence that coal dust played a role in the blast that killed 29 miners and seriously injured two others at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine April 5.

The explosion is the subject of ongoing civil and criminal investigations.

The change will increase to 80 percent the amount of pulverized stone or other inert material that mines must use to dilute coal dust in tunnels that bring fresh air underground. The standard had been 65 percent since the mid-1920s. The dust content in tunnels that return bad air to the outside already must contain 80 percent inert materials.

“It’s an old standard that’s been outdated,” Main told reporters.

The change is based on federal research that shows decreasing the amount of coal dust in air intakes can help prevent explosions, Main said.

Mines must comply by Oct. 7 in new areas and by Nov. 22 in existing tunnels, Main said.

The coal industry expressed immediate support for the change,

which is already a state requirement in West Virginia. Gov. Joe Manchin issued an executive order adopting the 80 percent standard in mid-April.

“West Virginia producers are complying,” said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association. “Many have carried it to their operations outside West Virginia.”

Popovich said the Washington, D.C.-based trade group has reviewed the NIOSH study underpinning the rule and considers it sound science.

MSHA announced Friday that more than 1,400 of 1,803 samples collected inside the Upper Big Branch mine by investigators show excessive amounts of coal dust were present before the blast. The findings bolster MSHA’s preliminary findings issued 10 days after the explosion that a mix of methane and coal dust caused the explosion.

The Associated Press reported Sept. 12 that handwritten logs recording inspections by Upper Big Branch employees showed eight conveyer belts had excessive amounts of coal dust 32 minutes before the explosion. Mine owner Massey Energy’s chief counsel, Shane Harvey, has conceded that miners would have been unable to correct that violation before the blast. But Harvey insists that the mine was adequately dusted and the logs merely reflect reminders to dust the mine.

“We continue to think UBB was well dusted,” Harvey said. And he repeated Massey’s contention that dust samples collected months after the accident are baseless.

Harvey raised no immediate objection to the emergency rule.

“We’ll analyze the regulation,” Harvey said. “We agree that rock dusting is critically important in coal mines.”

28 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Continued From Page 17 America, Paintsville, Ky. • Not-for-Profit Business: Dr. Ron Hustedde, director, Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, UK Department of Community and Leadership, Lexington, Ky. Finalists: Dr. David Worthy, CEO, Grace Community Health Center, Inc., Gray, Ky., and Ken Russell, Horse Cave Development Corporation, Horse Cave, Ky. Award finalists were determined by the economic success of the enterprise, contributions to the community, and job creation and operational achievement as measured by innovative business practices, superior safety achievement, and superior technology.

EKU student Joe Eisenhauer and business advisor professor Dr. Rita Davis, recipients of the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Collegiate Business Concept Challenge, and the first-place winning team of The Center’s 2010 Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) Business Concept

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 33

competition on the high school level also were honored at the awards program.

ELI team members Austin Kirksey, Wayne County; Paige Price and Hannah Lake, both of Pulaski County; South Whitt, Bath County; and Catherine Crawford of Laurel County, were recognized for putting together a physical fitness plan that addresses the growing problem of obesity in the United States and Kentucky. Each of the high school students is eligible to receive a Presidential Scholarship to attend Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

Deputy Commissioner Warren Nash of the Kentucky Department of Commercialization and Innovation delivered the keynote address, and Dr. Robert Rogow, dean of Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Business and Technology, served as emcee.

The EIEA program is sponsored

by EKU’s College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment

Corporation, and The Center.

Contributing partners for this year’s program were AT&T, platinum sponsor; Forcht Group of Kentucky, gold sponsor; Outdoor Venture Corporation, silver sponsor; and Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, bronze sponsor. Friends Level Sponsors included Eastern Kentucky University, Masters of Business Administration; Appalachian Development Alliance, and the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on the EIEA program, visit The Center’s Web site at www.centertech.com and clink on the EIEA link. A video library of previous EIEA award finalists may be viewed on the KEAN (Kentucky Entrepreneur Accelerator Network) Web site at www.kyean.org or through a link on The Center’s Web site.

To be eligible for EIEA competition, businesses must be located in one of the following 55 Southern and Eastern Kentucky counties: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd,

Boyle, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, McCreary, Madison, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Wayne, Whitley, or Wolfe.

The Center for Rural Development — the Center of Excellence for rural Kentucky and the nation — provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county primary service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com. The Center is located in Somerset.

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Team members from American Coal Company, in Illinois, work their way through the course at Bob Amos Park while teammates consult charts and record data. Mine rescue teams from seven states took part in the competition. many safety measures are taken, Hoskins said there is no charge coal mining is still a hazardous to enter KEMI’s competition and job, and the situations simulated the event is held each year to in the competition give rescue bring different rescue teams teams another chance to prepare together at one location and give for the worst. the teams a chance to bond with “You never want something like one another. this to happen,” he said. “But “We want the teams to get to you’ve got to be prepared.” know each other,” he said. “At any given time, one of these teams could be backing up any of these other teams.”

Hoskins said the responsibility of mine rescue teams is so great that his company wanted to give the teams a chance to sharpen and showcase their skills.

News-Express photo “To put on the respirator, you

by Chris Anderson have to be the best of the best,” he A Cumberland River Coal said.

Company rescue team member And it’s the desire to be the best holds an air quality gauge into the that keeps competitors’ skills air while his team navigates the sharpened and keeps them wantcourse at the KEMI competition. ing to win.

Teams were faced with a number of “This is a serious matter,” tasks while running the course, Clutter said. “But we’re here to including testing air for levels of win it.” methane gas, carbon dioxide and Hoskins said no matter how oxygen.

32 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 29

A game with a serious side Mine rescue competition

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer A mine rescue competition held at Bob Amos Park in Pikeville this week brought out the competitive nature in the hundreds of participants.

But for at least one team captain, the competition has taken on a whole new meaning.

Leslie Clutter, a team captain for one of Alpha Natural Resources’ seven safety teams which took part in the mine rescue competition sponsored by Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance company, or KEMI, said the disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va. in April gave a whole new meaning to such events.

A veteran of several rescue competitions, Cutter admitted that prior to the disaster, he and his teammates didn’t take competitions quite as seriously.

“For me and my teammates, before UBB, it was just a big game,” he said. “After that it was different. It’s serious.”

Clutter said his team was sent to Montcoal following the disaster to assist in the search and recovery of the 29 miners who died in the worst coal mining disaster in the country in 40 years. His enjoyment of the competitions hasn’t changed in the wake of the disaster, but his understanding and respect for the events has.

“You hate to lose in these things, but that’s not what it’s all about,” he said.

Dozens of mine rescue teams converged on Bob Amos Park on Tuesday to take part in the competition. After being given a mine disaster scenario, teams navigated a rope obstacle course, while avoiding various simulated hazards, in order to reach trapped or fallen miners.

KEMI officials said teams had little more than an hour to complete the course and were observed and scored by Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials.

Officials said 44 teams from

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson A competition official consults members of a mine rescue team at the KEMI competition on Thursday. Teams were judged and scored by Mine Safety and Health Administration officials while navigating the course. seven states took part in the threeday event, the third such competition to be held in Pikeville.

Competitors from Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana and Alabama took part in the event.

The competition has grown since the first in 2008. Daven Hoskins, an official with KEMI, said 36 teams took part in the competition in 2009. He said 700-800 people were expected to take attend this year’s competition, including competitors and spectators.

Teams were “locked in” at the Pikeville YMCA until it was their turn to take a run at the course.

They were then brought to one of the many courses set up on the fields at the park.

Hoskins said holding the competition in Pikeville is an obvious choice.

“This is the heart of coal country,” he said. “For what coal has meant to Pikeville and what Pikeville has meant to coal, we wanted to have it here.”

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Cumberland River Coal Company team members perform equipment checks on one another during the KEMI competition. Mine rescue teams performed the same tasks they would in the event of an actual mine disaster, including checking teammate’s equipment, roping off hazardous areas and communicating with a command center.

30 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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30 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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32 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 29

A game with a serious side Mine rescue competition

By Chris Anderson Staff Writer A mine rescue competition held at Bob Amos Park in Pikeville this week brought out the competitive nature in the hundreds of participants.

But for at least one team captain, the competition has taken on a whole new meaning.

Leslie Clutter, a team captain for one of Alpha Natural Resources’ seven safety teams which took part in the mine rescue competition sponsored by Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance company, or KEMI, said the disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va. in April gave a whole new meaning to such events.

A veteran of several rescue competitions, Cutter admitted that prior to the disaster, he and his teammates didn’t take competitions quite as seriously.

“For me and my teammates, before UBB, it was just a big game,” he said. “After that it was different. It’s serious.”

Clutter said his team was sent to Montcoal following the disaster to assist in the search and recovery of the 29 miners who died in the worst coal mining disaster in the country in 40 years. His enjoyment of the competitions hasn’t changed in the wake of the disaster, but his understanding and respect for the events has.

“You hate to lose in these things, but that’s not what it’s all about,” he said.

Dozens of mine rescue teams converged on Bob Amos Park on Tuesday to take part in the competition. After being given a mine disaster scenario, teams navigated a rope obstacle course, while avoiding various simulated hazards, in order to reach trapped or fallen miners.

KEMI officials said teams had little more than an hour to complete the course and were observed and scored by Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials.

Officials said 44 teams from

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson A competition official consults members of a mine rescue team at the KEMI competition on Thursday. Teams were judged and scored by Mine Safety and Health Administration officials while navigating the course. seven states took part in the threeday event, the third such competition to be held in Pikeville.

Competitors from Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana and Alabama took part in the event.

The competition has grown since the first in 2008. Daven Hoskins, an official with KEMI, said 36 teams took part in the competition in 2009. He said 700-800 people were expected to take attend this year’s competition, including competitors and spectators.

Teams were “locked in” at the Pikeville YMCA until it was their turn to take a run at the course.

They were then brought to one of the many courses set up on the fields at the park.

Hoskins said holding the competition in Pikeville is an obvious choice.

“This is the heart of coal country,” he said. “For what coal has meant to Pikeville and what Pikeville has meant to coal, we wanted to have it here.”

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Cumberland River Coal Company team members perform equipment checks on one another during the KEMI competition. Mine rescue teams performed the same tasks they would in the event of an actual mine disaster, including checking teammate’s equipment, roping off hazardous areas and communicating with a command center.

28 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Continued From Page 17 America, Paintsville, Ky. • Not-for-Profit Business: Dr. Ron Hustedde, director, Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, UK Department of Community and Leadership, Lexington, Ky. Finalists: Dr. David Worthy, CEO, Grace Community Health Center, Inc., Gray, Ky., and Ken Russell, Horse Cave Development Corporation, Horse Cave, Ky. Award finalists were determined by the economic success of the enterprise, contributions to the community, and job creation and operational achievement as measured by innovative business practices, superior safety achievement, and superior technology.

EKU student Joe Eisenhauer and business advisor professor Dr. Rita Davis, recipients of the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Collegiate Business Concept Challenge, and the first-place winning team of The Center’s 2010 Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) Business Concept

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 33

competition on the high school level also were honored at the awards program.

ELI team members Austin Kirksey, Wayne County; Paige Price and Hannah Lake, both of Pulaski County; South Whitt, Bath County; and Catherine Crawford of Laurel County, were recognized for putting together a physical fitness plan that addresses the growing problem of obesity in the United States and Kentucky. Each of the high school students is eligible to receive a Presidential Scholarship to attend Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

Deputy Commissioner Warren Nash of the Kentucky Department of Commercialization and Innovation delivered the keynote address, and Dr. Robert Rogow, dean of Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Business and Technology, served as emcee.

The EIEA program is sponsored

by EKU’s College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment

Corporation, and The Center.

Contributing partners for this year’s program were AT&T, platinum sponsor; Forcht Group of Kentucky, gold sponsor; Outdoor Venture Corporation, silver sponsor; and Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, bronze sponsor. Friends Level Sponsors included Eastern Kentucky University, Masters of Business Administration; Appalachian Development Alliance, and the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on the EIEA program, visit The Center’s Web site at www.centertech.com and clink on the EIEA link. A video library of previous EIEA award finalists may be viewed on the KEAN (Kentucky Entrepreneur Accelerator Network) Web site at www.kyean.org or through a link on The Center’s Web site.

To be eligible for EIEA competition, businesses must be located in one of the following 55 Southern and Eastern Kentucky counties: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd,

Boyle, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, McCreary, Madison, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Wayne, Whitley, or Wolfe.

The Center for Rural Development — the Center of Excellence for rural Kentucky and the nation — provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county primary service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com. The Center is located in Somerset.

News-Express photo by Chris Anderson Team members from American Coal Company, in Illinois, work their way through the course at Bob Amos Park while teammates consult charts and record data. Mine rescue teams from seven states took part in the competition. many safety measures are taken, Hoskins said there is no charge coal mining is still a hazardous to enter KEMI’s competition and job, and the situations simulated the event is held each year to in the competition give rescue bring different rescue teams teams another chance to prepare together at one location and give for the worst. the teams a chance to bond with “You never want something like one another. this to happen,” he said. “But “We want the teams to get to you’ve got to be prepared.” know each other,” he said. “At any given time, one of these teams could be backing up any of these other teams.”

Hoskins said the responsibility of mine rescue teams is so great that his company wanted to give the teams a chance to sharpen and showcase their skills.

News-Express photo “To put on the respirator, you

by Chris Anderson have to be the best of the best,” he A Cumberland River Coal said.

Company rescue team member And it’s the desire to be the best holds an air quality gauge into the that keeps competitors’ skills air while his team navigates the sharpened and keeps them wantcourse at the KEMI competition. ing to win.

Teams were faced with a number of “This is a serious matter,” tasks while running the course, Clutter said. “But we’re here to including testing air for levels of win it.” methane gas, carbon dioxide and Hoskins said no matter how oxygen.

34 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 27

Mine safety agency has new rule after W.Va. blast

By Tim Huber AP Business Writer BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) — The government announced an emergency rule in September that will require underground mines to do more to control explosive coal dust following the deadliest U.S. coal mine explosion in 40 years, the first major federal regulatory change since the disaster.

Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main announced the change at an industry conference in West Virginia’s southern coalfields. The change comes after growing evidence that coal dust played a role in the blast that killed 29 miners and seriously injured two others at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine April 5.

The explosion is the subject of ongoing civil and criminal investigations.

The change will increase to 80 percent the amount of pulverized stone or other inert material that mines must use to dilute coal dust in tunnels that bring fresh air underground. The standard had been 65 percent since the mid-1920s. The dust content in tunnels that return bad air to the outside already must contain 80 percent inert materials.

“It’s an old standard that’s been outdated,” Main told reporters.

The change is based on federal research that shows decreasing the amount of coal dust in air intakes can help prevent explosions, Main said.

Mines must comply by Oct. 7 in new areas and by Nov. 22 in existing tunnels, Main said.

The coal industry expressed immediate support for the change,

which is already a state requirement in West Virginia. Gov. Joe Manchin issued an executive order adopting the 80 percent standard in mid-April.

“West Virginia producers are complying,” said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association. “Many have carried it to their operations outside West Virginia.”

Popovich said the Washington, D.C.-based trade group has reviewed the NIOSH study underpinning the rule and considers it sound science.

MSHA announced Friday that more than 1,400 of 1,803 samples collected inside the Upper Big Branch mine by investigators show excessive amounts of coal dust were present before the blast. The findings bolster MSHA’s preliminary findings issued 10 days after the explosion that a mix of methane and coal dust caused the explosion.

The Associated Press reported Sept. 12 that handwritten logs recording inspections by Upper Big Branch employees showed eight conveyer belts had excessive amounts of coal dust 32 minutes before the explosion. Mine owner Massey Energy’s chief counsel, Shane Harvey, has conceded that miners would have been unable to correct that violation before the blast. But Harvey insists that the mine was adequately dusted and the logs merely reflect reminders to dust the mine.

“We continue to think UBB was well dusted,” Harvey said. And he repeated Massey’s contention that dust samples collected months after the accident are baseless.

Harvey raised no immediate objection to the emergency rule.

“We’ll analyze the regulation,” Harvey said. “We agree that rock dusting is critically important in coal mines.”

26 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

Natural Resources • October, 2010 • 35

36 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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2010 Commissioner’s award of excellence

By Kendall Atkins Livick Staff Writer Often ignored in the battle over the future of mountaintop removal mining, the work coal companies do to reclaim the land after it is mined was in the spotlight recently in Pikeville.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, a local business was praised and awarded for their work on a Pike County mine site. Commissioner of the Department for Natural Resources, Carl Campbell presented a local father and son duo with the 2010 Commissioner’s Award of Excellence in Reclamation at a small ceremony that took place at the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement in Pikeville. Campbell said he is proud of this effort and was thrilled to be there to present the award.

“It means a lot to me, because you read every day in the press about the negative aspects of mining,” he said.

Hank and Luke Salyer of LABCO, LLC, received this award for their reclamation work on a surface facility near Elkhorn City.

“Our company is a very small family company, and we seek out companies that have been mined before previously, and then we generally do what they call a remining reclamation project,” Hank said. “So we actually go on old property, and then we take what coal had been left on that property and do reclamation work.”

One of these tasks is what earned the Salyers this award.

The landowner working with LABCO, LLC, wishes to turn what was once mining land, into a “fish and wildlife habitat,” specifically for bats.

LABCO, LLC is working on planting grasses — orchardgrass, timothy and redtop grasses — as well as several legumes species, in order to create and maintain a vegetative cover. In addition, the company has

News-Express photo by Kendall Atkins Livick Hank Salyer and son Luke look over the plaque they’ve just been awarded, taking in this moment. incorporated in the reclamation plan, tree species with exfoliating bark, which will protect the Indiana Bat and other wildlife.

This project would be quite an undertaking for any company, but for a small company like that of the Salyers, this kind of accomplishment is impressive to say the least.

“There’s probably not three of four companies our size that even do this kind of stuff, because it’s just so overwhelming,” Hank said. “The mining industry, it’s changed a little bit over the past few years in that you have several agencies to deal with. You have a lot of mail, a lot of paperwork and a lot of forms to keep up with and reports to fill out.”

Hank said he credits his son, Luke with dealing with the heap of deskwork and red tape of this project, while he himself was responsible for the preliminary part of the permit.

Both father and son said they attribute part of the success of this project to the fact that this is a family business, and they share a strong bond. Because they spend so much time together in and out of work, business

endeavor discussions often follow them on family vacations and other leisure adventures.

“Probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done is working with my family, and probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done is working with my family,” Luke said, laughing.

Joking aside, Campbell said this company has set the bar for other mining businesses in this area by sending the message that mining can, and should be environmentally positive.

“They set the example in the region that they represent,” he said of the company.

Campbell said this kind of example is especially important in an area such as this, where so much of the economy depends on mining practices.

“The mining jobs really impact so many businesses besides just the coal miners themselves,” he said. “It’s every mom and pop little grocery store, and everybody that sells gas, and it really impacts a whole lot of people.

It’s really important to East Kentucky and Kentucky as a whole.”

In presenting the Salyers with the award, Campbell told them

their innovative mining practices have successfully minimized stream impact and brought much of the site back to its approximate original contour.

He added that wildlife in Kentucky and Virginia will be greatly enhanced by the company’s efforts and predicted that this would be the first of many awards the company would receive.

“I grew up in a mining region,” Campbell said. “I know how important mining is to the people of the region because jobs and their livelihood depends on it, so it’s really important to me to come out and give the reclamation award — to do something positive for the cooperators — and I do it too for some recognition for the regional inspectors.”

Eddie Kelly and Gene Blackburn, Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE) inspectors from the Pikeville Regional Office, nominated the site because they believed the company’s work to be exceptional and their commitment to the environment strong.

Luke said most of his work with his father involves property that was mined back in the 50s and 60s, when the methods of reclamation were not up to the standards that they are today.

“After we get done with that property, you can imagine how much better it looks, thinking of the quality of reclamation in 1950, as opposed to what it is in 2010,” he said.

Campbell said past recipients of the Commissioner’s Award have told him the prestige of the award, which was on public record, gave them credibility with clients, resulting in better business.

The Salyers said they are proud of this honor and couldn’t have done it without the help of the others at the company. They said this is only the beginning, and that they are already looking forward to future endeavors.

24 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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Rep. Keith Hall stands up for miners at “Bring Them Home Safe!” event

Submitted Photo Rep. Keith Hall speaks at Kentucky Coal Academy event. To his right is Sen. Brandon Smith and members of the Kentucky Coal Academy.

Frankfort — During midSeptember, Rep. Keith Hall stood with Kentucky coal miners, Kentucky Coal Academy representatives, elected officials and the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet secretary to increase awareness of coal mine safety throughout the Commonwealth.

The Kentucky Coal Academy’s theme for their 2010 safety campaign is “Bring Them Home Safe” which will be used in an aggressive media safety campaign including television and newspaper articles and safety posters for every Kentucky coal mine operation.

“As a card carrying Kentucky miner I am proud to stand up here with my brothers to defend coal mining,” said Hall. “I take offense to people outside of Eastern Kentucky who criticize coal mining but have no stake in the industry. Coal mining feeds our families, sends our kids to college, pays our mortgages, and provides us with health and retirement benefits. It is the major employer in Eastern Kentucky and certainly in my district which is the number one coal producing county in Kentucky.”

National industry sources report that coal production has increased 76 percent since 1970 while fatal

injuries have fallen by two-thirds in the last 18 years. The rise in production and the decrease in fatalities is evidence of the mine training improvements, better enforcement and compliance.

“It’s real easy to sit in judgment of others when you live in a big urban city that has Ford Motor Company, UPS, Toyota and others which employ tens of thousands of people,” continued Rep. Hall. “We don’t have the geographical conditions or the capital to entice large corporations to our area. Coal mining is our major economic engine and we’re proud of the jobs and benefits it provides.”

The month of September has been declared “Kentucky Coal Miner Safety Awareness Month” in Kentucky. Besides the media campaign, Kentucky Coal Academy officials will award “Coal Baron Certificates” to mine safety directors at receptions planned at KCA colleges throughout the month.

“It’s nice to see our coal miners and operators rewarded for their good work,” said Rep. Hall.

“These men and women put their lives on the line every day so we can enjoy cheap electricity and it’s time we applauded their good work.”

38 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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Energy and Environment Cabinet prepares for Annual Governor’s Conference on the Environment Annual event set for Oct. 20-21 in Louisville FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (EEC) is working diligently to prepare a dynamic agenda for the 34th Governor’s Conference on the Environment. The conference takes place Oct. 20-21, 2010 at the Louisville Downtown Marriott.

“In today’s world, energy and environmental issues have direct connections with not only our state’s economy, but with the global economy,” said EEC Secretary Len Peters. “We have great opportunities and serious challenges with the logical association of these issues. With the conference, we want to advance a dialogue among government, business, community and academia leaders that address how we can move forward to become an energy leader while protecting our environment and promoting economic development.”

Confirmed speakers include Vic Staffieri, chief executive officer and president of E.On US; Steve Brown of the Environmental Council on the States; and Theresa Pugh of the American Public Power Association.

Workshops topics include air quality regulations; coal mining and water quality issues; land preservation and conservation; and BioEnergy, just to name a few.

The conference includes an exhibit hall for vendors wishing to display energy- and environmental-related products. Conference registration and exhibit booth reservations will begin Sept. 14, 2010. To register or to reserve booth space, visit the cabinet’s website at http://eec.ky.gov/Pages/default.asp x.

For additional conference information, contact Karen Wilson by e-mail at KarenL.wilson@ky.gov or call 502-564-3350.

20 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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Ky. Senate candidate Paul tours plant to tout coal

By Dylan Lovan Associated Press Writer ROBARDS (AP) — Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul visited a power plant Wednesday to tout the importance of coal to the state’s low energy rates.

Paul said recent climate legislation that would place a fee on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, sometimes referred to as cap-and-trade, would kill industry in Kentucky.

The Bowling Green Republican visited a plant complex owned by the Big Rivers Electric Corporation in Henderson County. He said nearby aluminum plants that employ about 1,600 people wouldn’t be located in Kentucky if not for the state’s cheap electric power.

“All these people lose their jobs with cap-and-trade,” Paul said.

Electric consumers in Kentucky pay some of the lowest rates in the nation, and the state draws about 92 percent of its electric power from burning coal.

The climate legislation passed the House but Democrats in the Senate were forced to shelve plans last month because of a lack of Republican support. Paul said the legislation, which sought to cut carbon emissions from power plants, could make a comeback if Republicans lose seats in the Senate.

Paul’s Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, released a statement Wednesday criticizing Paul for calling coal “a very dirty form of energy” earlier this year.

Paul acknowledged making the statement, and said there are “cleaner” forms of energy creation, but added that coal-rich Kentucky should utilize its available resources.

Paul said Conway has reversed his position in order to oppose cap-and-trade legislation.

Conway said in a statement he is “opposed to any and all cap-andtrade legislation, which unfairly punishes coal states like Kentucky.”

AP Photo/The Gleaner, Darrin Phegley Rand Paul, center-right, candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to members of the media outside the Big Rivers Electric power plant.

The plan that failed in the Senate would have charged power plants, manufacturers and other large polluters for their heat-trapping carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming.

The House voted 219-212 last year for a plan featuring economic incentives to reduce carbon

emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

Republicans slammed the bill as an energy tax and jobs killer, arguing that the costs would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills and fuel costs that would lead manufacturers to take their factories overseas.

42 • October, 2010 • Natural Resources

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AP Enterprise: Old-style coal plants expanding

By Matthew Brown Associated Press Writer WYODAK, Wyo. (AP) — Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry’s standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come.

An Associated Press examination of U.S. Department of Energy records and information provided by utilities and trade groups shows that more than 30 traditional coal plants have been built since 2008 or are under construction.

The construction wave stretches from Arizona to Illinois and South Carolina to Washington, and comes despite growing public wariness over the high environmental and social costs of fossil fuels, demonstrated by tragic mine disasters in West Virginia, the Gulf oil spill and wars in the Middle East.

The expansion, the industry’s largest in two decades, represents an acknowledgment that highly touted “clean coal” technology is still a long ways from becoming a reality and underscores a renewed confidence among utilities that proposals to regulate carbon emissions will fail. The Senate last month scrapped the leading bill to curb carbon emissions following opposition from Republicans and coal-state Democrats.

“Building a coal-fired power plant today is betting that we are not going to put a serious financial cost on emitting carbon dioxide,” said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at the University of California-Berkeley.

“That may be true, but unless most of the scientists are way off the mark, that’s pretty bad public policy.”

Federal officials have long struggled to balance coal’s hidden costs against its more conspicuous role in providing half the nation’s electricity.

Hoping for a technological solution, the Obama administration devoted $3.4 billion in stimulus spending to foster “clean-coal” plants that can capture and store greenhouse gases. Yet new investments in traditional coal plants total at least 10 times that amount — more than $35 billion.

Utilities say they are clinging to coal because its abundance makes

it cheaper than natural gas or nuclear power and more reliable than intermittent power sources such as wind and solar. Still, the price of coal plants is rising and consumers in some areas served by the new facilities will see their electricity bill rise by up to 30 percent.

Industry representatives say those increases would be even steeper if utilities switched to more expensive fuels or were forced to adopt emission-reduction measures.

Approval of the plants has come from state and federal agencies that do not factor in emissions of carbon dioxide, considered the leading culprit behind global warming. Scientists and environmentalists have tried to stop the coal rush with some success, turning back dozens of plants through lawsuits and other legal challenges.

As a result, current construction is far more modest than projected a few years ago when 151 new plants were forecast by federal regulators. But analysts say the projects that prevailed are more than enough to ensure coal’s continued dominance in the power industry for years to come.

Sixteen large plants have fired up since 2008 and 16 more are under construction, according to records examined by the AP. Combined, they will produce an estimated 17,900 megawatts of electricity, sufficient to power up to 15.6 million homes — roughly the number of homes in California and Arizona combined.

They also will generate about 125 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to emissions figures from utilities and the Center for Global Development.

That’s the equivalent of putting 22 million additional automobiles on the road.

The new plants do not capture carbon dioxide. That’s despite the stimulus spending and an additional $687 million spent by the Department of Energy on clean coal programs.

DOE spokesman John Grasser acknowledged the new plants represent a missed chance to rein in carbon emissions. But he said more opportunities would arise as electricity consumption increases.

Experts say the widespread application of carbon-neutralizing technologies for coal plants remains at

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel least 15 to 20 years away.

“This is not something that’s going to happen tomorrow,” Grasser said. “You have to do the required research and development and take steps along the way.”

Producing clean coal power appears straightforward: Separate the carbon dioxide before it goes up the smokestack, then store it underground in geological formations.

Experimental trials have been successful but putting the concept into commercial practice has been stymied by high costs and the difficulty of isolating carbon dioxide from other gases.

“We are pushing the envelope as far as what’s possible,” said Jon LaCour, manager for the 115megawatt Wygen III coal plant, which came online in northeastern Wyoming this spring. “We have no way of capturing carbon.”

Inside the plant, a ton of coal per minute rumbles off conveyor belts from the nearby WyoDak mine.

Hulking steel pulverizers crush the fuel to the consistency of baby powder, fans blow it into a giant furnace and the coal goes up in flames that can top 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, producing steam to generate electricity.

WyGen is more efficient than earlier plants, burning about 20 percent less coal. Yet the process itself has changed little since

Thomas Edison built the first plant in 1882 in Manhattan.

And while dramatic advances have been made at the back end of coal plants — where Wygen’s operator, Black Hills Power, removes most of the nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and other acid-rain pollutants — efforts to curb greenhouse gases have lagged.

Black Hills spent $80 million on pollution controls for WyGen, bumping up its price tag to $247 million. Like most of the new fleet of plants, space was left at WyGen for the future installation of carbon-capture equipment.

As climate change emerged as a global dilemma in recent years, the coal industry at times appeared on the ropes.

Environmentalists trumpeted 100 plants dropped or delayed.

Regulators imposed tighter emission limits for acid rain pollutants and reined in destructive mining practices. And the recession dampened consumer demand for power, prompting some utilities to scrap expansion plans.

But coal has not gone away.

“The reason coal burns in this country is not because anyone likes the smog. It’s the cost,” said Daniel Scott, a coal industry analyst with Dahlman Rose & Company in New York.

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Wright Concrete receives Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award from Congressman Hal Rogers

By Sharon Dodson The Center for Rural Development SOMERSET — The region’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs who play a vital role in growing the economy in Southern and Eastern Kentucky were honored Sept. 13 at the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA) program hosted at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset.

Among those taking top honors were a pair of Pike County brothers who built one of the region’s most successful companies.

Shannon and Kendall Wright, owners of Wright Concrete and Construction were named top forprofit business. It was the third time they had been a finalist for the award.

U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05), special guest speaker, helped recognize all of the EIEA finalists and celebrated the accomplishments of the win-

ning award recipients in each of the four business categories.

“It is no secret small businesses create most of the new jobs in this country,” Rogers told business leaders and entrepreneurs at the EIEA luncheon. “You are not only providing those new jobs. You are also providing a spark in your community that will lead others to bigger things.

“I am here to encourage you and thank you for the good work that you do,” he added. “This banquet is all about rewarding some very special people who have gone the extra mile and make a real difference in their community.”

The 2010 EIEA award winners and finalists in their respective categories are as follows: • For-Profit Business: Shannon Wright and Kendall Wright, owners, Wright Concrete and Construction, Inc., Dorton, Ky. Finalists: Tommy and Gwen Mitchell, owners, Rocky Top Log

Furniture, and William P. Hardy, director of planning, Carhartt, Inc., Irvine, Ky. • For-Profit Small Business: Kaye Bowman, Stacey Wilson, and David Bowman, owners, Community Medical Services, Columbia, Ky. Finalists: Frances D. Snowden, owner, Ravenna Florist and Greenhouse, Ravenna, Ky., and Timothy Howard and David Howard, co-owners, Howard Engineering and Geology, Inc., Harlan, Ky. • Start-Up Business: Amber Stone, owner, Body of Stone Fitness, London, Ky. Finalists: Nick Noble, president and co-founder, The Fortress Group, Inc., dba Park Mammoth Resort, Park City, Ky., and Sandra G. Dingus, owner, president, and CEO, Drug Testing Centers of

Continued on Page 28

Brothers Shannon and Kendall Wright, third and fifth from left, owners of Wright Concrete and Construction, Inc. in Dorton, are the recipients of the 2010 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award (EIEA) in the For-Profit Business category. Presenting them with the award are, Jerry Rickett, at far left, president and CEO of Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp.; Dr. Robert Rogow, second from left, dean of Eastern Kentucky University’s (EKU) College of Business and Technology; U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05), fourth from left; and Lonnie Lawson, at far right, president and CEO of The Center for Rural Development. The award winners were announced Sept. 13 at the EIEA luncheon held at The Center in Somerset. The program is sponsored by EKU’s College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp., and The Center.

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Mingo renewable energy projects receive funding

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Two Mingo County renewable energy projects have been approved for funding by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).

These are among six West Virginia projects which will share $239,008 in funding by the ARC. Renewable energy comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat that are naturally replenished.

One project calls for the placement of solar panels on the Twisted Gun Golf Course clubhouse. This will demonstrate the potential for photovoltaic power systems to convert sunlight directly into electricity on lands left open to the sky. The installation of a 2.5 kilowatt PV system at Twisted Gun will enable the course to generate some, if not all of its daily electrical energy demand, exchanging daytime excess power for future energy needs.

The Mingo County golf course was one of the first post mine land use projects in Appalachia.

Its success is being widely used as an example of what can be done to improve communities when mining is completed.

The 4H Camp Energy Crop Planting Project will involve placing a selection of tree seedlings on 38.5 acres of the slope portions of a site which is being reclaimed as a regional youth camp.

At maturity, the seedlings will be selectively harvested to supply feedstock to one of the wood energy plants being constructed in the region, as well as providing income to support the operation of the youth camp.

The plantings will run some 2,100 feet from a wildlife grove on the southeast section of the site to a second wildlife grove on the northeastern portion, thus positioning the resulting forest for easy future harvest and providing a wildlife con-

nector.

Randall Harris, projects manager for the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, said this program is an excellent fit because it allows the county to leverage its natural resources into value-added activities.

“We are very thankful to have been awarded these two grants,” said Harris who wrote the grant application. “It allows us to further demonstrate that post mine land use contributes directly to economic development purposes, and it demonstrates our interest in complementing traditional energy sources with renewable energy production.”

A principal economic development concern in West Virginia is the development of valueadded activities to complement existing industries, as well as the encouragement of high-technology business endeavors.

Surface mining impacts 16 West Virginia counties, 14 of which are designated as distressed or at risk by the ARC. After mining, local communities are left with developable land, but often that land does not lend itself to re-use which can maintain mining employment levels or increase the number of local jobs. Renewal energy production may be a productive re-use for these lands, and officials hope the grant program will provide an impetus for coal operators and landowners to explore such options, which have great potential for the creation of “green” collar jobs.

Statics show that in 2008, about 19 percent of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13 percent coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.2 percent from hydroelectricity.

New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 2.7 percent and are growing very rapidly..

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U.S. mining official to tour Mingo post-mine land uses

By Audrey Carter-Lee Staff Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mingo County’s innovative use of post-mine land for economic development and diversity could have some bearing on future mining regulations.

For years, the county’s Land Use Master Plan has been used as a model for other counties in the state of West Virginia to emulate.

In 2009, the West Virginia Legislature adopted a post-mine land use bill, making it mandatory for county economic development authorities to establish master land use plans.

Under these plans, lands that are near transportation infrastructure, such as four-lane highways, are targeted for residential, commercial and industrial development, while other mined lands may be used for alternate energy production.

Next week Joe Pizarchik, director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining, will tour some of Mingo County’s post-mine land sites. The tour will include an 11-mile section of the King Coal Highway, the Air Transportation Park, Twisted Gun Golf Course and the Wood Products Industrial Park. He joins a growing list of cabinet members who have traveled from the nation’s capital to Mingo County for the same purpose.

Following the tour, Pizarchik will participate in a meeting with local leaders at the Larry Joe Harless Community Center in Gilbert, W.Va. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin extended the written invitation for the director to come so he could learn about the state’s approach to postmine land use. The governor also wants Pizarchik to meet with the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority to see how the board is using postmined lands as one of its principal tools in economic development and diversity.

Manchin said he wants

Pizarchik to see first-hand some of the Redevelopment Authority’s outstanding results.

“I believe this experience will be very informative in making the policy judgments that you face as director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,” Manchin wrote.

The governor further explained that because much of West Virginia’s coal producing regions have steep, rugged terrain that makes economic diversification difficult because of the lack of flat land for development.

“We have identified the surface mining process as a way we can provide this resource at no cost to the taxpayers, so that these areas can have a viable economic future after the mineable coal is gone,” Manchin said.

Manchin also expressed concern about portions of the director’s regulatory agenda that proposes to restrict variances for post-mine land use for commercial, residential and industrial development and to require reforestation of lands that were previously forested.

“Control of land uses and land use planning is a state and local matter that can most effectively be handled at that level instead of being directed from Washington,” Manchin wrote.

Many proponents of coal believe the industry is under attack and county officials hope to educate the director on what can be done once the coal is mined out.

Randall Harris, project manager for the MCRA, said they believe the people in Washington, D.C., who are making decisions about surface mining are doing so without being fully informed.

During Thursday’s monthly Redevelopment Authority meeting, Tom Clarke, director of West Virginia Mining and Reclamation, explained that if Pizarchik makes the decision to go ahead with proposed regulatory changes, he would do so after seeing the full picture.

Photo submitted. King Coal Highway

Clarke agreed that some of the changes could impact the use of post-mine land for economic development.

“We need to positively tell Mingo County’s story, to show him the economic benefits despite the topographical challenges we face,” Clarke said.

“He needs to see this is really happening.”

Mike Whitt, executive director of the MCRA, said Pizarchik has been told that the county sites have been left flat and undeveloped.

“He’s looking at changing some of the regulations on reclamation mining projects and we want him to look at real projects, that create real jobs, that benefit the citizens of the area,” Whitt said. “He’s hearing from opponents of coal that nothing is happening and that’s not true.”

MCRA board chairman Terry Sammons said it’s wrong that property that can be used for economic development is not being used for that purpose.

“There are people that are trying to put variables in place to keep things from moving forward,” Sammons said. “We are

the ones who are affected. This is a very critical juncture for all of us.”

Sammons said it’s crucial to try and determine what policies will be enacted on a federal level.

Board member Steve Kominar said he’s all for responsible mining, but he’s also for a responsible future.

“Twenty-five years ago the opportunity for advancement for the next generation was not there, “ Kominar said. “This is a citizen-driven effort.”

Jeff Wood, energy development specialist for the Office of Coalfield Community Development, said he believes the state is in compliance with policies about which the federal government has expressed concerns.

Two representatives of U.S. Congress Nick Joe Rahall, (DW.Va.) were also in attendance after touring various post-mine sites.

Both expressed amazement at what had been done.

Whitt told the group that none of the constructed sites would have been possible without public/private partnerships.

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15 buses depart Pikeville, bound for Washington coal rally

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer Though their reasons for going were different, the dozens of people gathered at the Landmark Inn on Tuesday morning shared a common goal: Supporting the coal industry.

They are among thousands expected to converge on Washington D.C., on Wednesday to attend a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” an effort being led by the FACES of Coal organization.

More than a dozen buses were lined up at the Landmark Tuesday morning, waiting to carry Eastern Kentuckians to attend the rally.

Some of those preparing to leave for the nation’s capital Tuesday depend directly on the coal industry.

Linda Potter, the wife of a foreman for TECO Coal subsidiary Premier Elkhorn Coal, said the industry is not only important to her, but to the community as a whole.

“This is a coal mining area, our livelihoods here in Eastern Kentucky depend on coal,” she said. “Every job here ... depends on coal.”

By traveling to Washington, she said, she hopes to change the minds of the decision-makers.

“We would like the government to see we’re not really a backwoods area,” she said. “We live in the hills by choice. We have educated people. We’re not a metropolis, but we have amenities that they have.

“And we’d like to keep that and grow,” she said.

Some making the trip to the rally, like Gary Weddington, who owns the Johns Creekbased car wash equipment company, Weddington Sales and Service, depend on the industry to keep their non-coal businesses alive.

Weddington said he was traveling to Washington to show support for an industry that has an impact on all other local industries.

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Coal industry supporters prepare to get on one of more than a dozen buses which were set to carry them to Washington D.C. to join up with thousands to hold a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” event in the nation’s capital.

“The people that work for coal spend their money with us,” he said. “The jobs that coal creates filters down to us.

“I hope they can wake up some of bureaucrats in Washington and make them see that coal is important to our nation,” Weddington said. “I think they’ll see the numbers and that the people do really care and that we want to keep our jobs and our way of life.”

Julie Wilson, with Coal Operators and Associates, said the rally would afford those gathered a chance to show the importance of coal to the nation.

“Our only way of living is coal,” Wilson said. “And the rest of America doesn’t realize they, also, are dependent on coal. They don’t know their clothes, their food, their jewelry, everything, comes from some sort of energy.”

State Rep. Leslie Combs said in a statement Tuesday that she would be attending the rally to help make a stand for the coal industry at a time when coal

News-Express photo by Russ Cassady Coal industry supporters sold T-shirts to those preparing Tuesday morning to travel to Washington D.C. for a “Rally for American Coal Jobs,” set to be held Wednesday. advocates claim that federal regulations are endangering their business.

“If we don’t stand up for ourselves, we have no one to blame

if all of these changes take away a life we have known for generations,” she said. “The end result is fewer jobs and more expensive electricity.”

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ROGER L. NICHOLSON Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (304) 760-2616 Direct (815) 642-4368 Fax RNicholson@intlcoal.com

Dear Editor: A number of career politicians in the coal states find themselves in tight races for the right to continue serving their constituents in Congress after November 2nd this year. Their support of cap-and-trade and the EPA’s de facto moratorium on coal mining permits in Appalachia have all been subject to close scrutiny. Candidates whose past actions undermine their protestations that they are “friends of coal” and support coal industry jobs are being called upon to explain themselves clearly.

These politicians and the national media are focused on the discontent of the electorate, and upon election-year politics.

Many of these politicians in the tight coal-state races appear mystified that their seemingly secure positions are under siege. Perhaps the fact that they are confounded is a sign that they are tone-deaf to the crystal-clear message of their constituents.

The discontented voter sentiment in the coal states should be quite understandable to our elected officials. You see, congressmen in tight races, like Reps. Chandler, Rahall and Boucher, fear for their jobs. Thousands of us in the mining industry fear for our jobs under the Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate. Those who fear for their livelihood will become quite vocal and active in self-defense, which can place politicians who don’t fight for their constituents’ jobs in serious jeopardy.

Perhaps the bigger source of discontent, however, is the disingenuous and sometimes outright deceptive platitudes and justifications offered by our leadership. The electorate, when properly informed and attentive, is capable of seeing past the ribbons and bows to the essence of legislative initiatives. The nation is crying out for leaders who stand up like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; unfortunately, our leaders more resemble Dancing with the Stars, tap-dancing their way past their constituents’ direct inquiries.

One does not have to even search for examples; they lie about like autumn leaves. I’ll name a few. Rep. Nick Rahall (DWV3) has noted his role in the passage of the initial Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977 as evidence for his support of the coal mining industry. While jobs in his district are under daily attack, given his role in enacting the initial surface mining laws, one could reasonably expect him to stand up and say to the EPA: “Surface mining is allowed under the Act; valley fills are allowed under the Act and are required for each mining operation—surface and deep; your approach is inconsistent with what we in Congress contemplated and you are killing Appalachian jobs and our nation’s baseload power industry.” Instead, from Rep. Rahall, we hear silence…or the comment that “the EPA is simply doing its job.”

Union leaders, who are essentially politicians, remain blind apologists for the Obama administration, much to the chagrin, I am sure, of their membership. Recently, Phil Smith of the UMWA had the temerity to say that there is not an Obamadriven “war on coal,” and that “the many legal rulings that have come out regarding mining are driving much of what the EPA and others are doing.” Huh? When campaigning, President Obama openly threatened to bankrupt the coal industry.

No court ruling has mandated that EPA should assert itself wholly and completely into the mine permitting process that had been delegated by Congress to the states and the Army Corps of Engineers, thus subsuming the balance of power carefully crafted by the legislative branch of government.

Other elected officials who either voted for cap-and-trade or sat on the sidelines during this important battle, try to justify their votes as “keeping a seat at the table.” They fall back on unrealistic estimates to try to confuse and undercut the fact that, if enacted, cap-and-trade would, as the President threatened, crush the coal industry and dramatically raise the cost of electricity to those of us in the Appalachian states and the heartland of this country. No matter what our politicians may espouse, you can’t kill a bedrock industry without killing jobs.

The message is clear: those of us in the coal industry must fight for our jobs, just as career politicians fight for theirs.

Those in office can keep those jobs by listening and standing up with courage and frankness to fight for their constituents’ livelihoods with the same tenacity as they defend their own seat of power.

Very truly yours, Roger L. Nicholson Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel International Coal Group, Inc.

Arch Coal 2Q profit surges on global sales

By Jim Suhr AP Business Writer ST. LOUIS (AP) — Arch Coal Inc. said Friday it reversed losses from a year ago during the second quarter, handily beating Wall Street’s expectations on the strength of global markets and a nearly 40 percent jump in sales.

The St. Louis miner, one of the world’s biggest coal producers, said it expected an even stronger showing for the remainder of the year, and raised the lower end of its adjusted annual earnings guidance by a dime, excluding non-cash charges.

“Coal markets have improved considerably since this time last year but remain well below the levels of the bull market of 2008,” said Steven Leer, Arch’s chairman and chief executive.

Leer said global markets for higher-margin metallurgical coal — the kind used in making steel — remain tight while conditions for thermal coal that fuels power plants “have strengthened meaningfully,” with those utilities — notably those served by Arch’s western U.S. operations — drawing down their stockpiles.

Arch fuels about 8 percent of all U.S. electrical generation.

“Looking ahead, we expect to continue managing through any ongoing operational challenges and deliver even stronger results in the year’s second half,” Leer said.

Leer said during a conference call that Arch is upbeat about coal’s prospects at least in the near term, citing favorable weather patterns — chiefly lingering summer heat that could drive up use of air conditioners — and an improving U.S. economy and growth of the global appetite for coal.

“We have positioned Arch to capitalize well on such trends,” Leer said.

Arch said it now expects adjusted earnings for the year of $1.10 — up from its $1 forecast in April — to $1.40 per share, excluding non-cash charges. In January, the company said it expected 50 cents to $1 per share.

Arch shares rose $1.24, or 5.5 percent, to $23.74 in afternoon trading.

Arch posted net income of $66.2 million, or 41 cents per

Arch Coal Mountain Laurel mining operation share, during the April-throughJune period. A year ago, Arch lost $15.1 million, or 11 cents per share, on the weight of a 20 percent drop in sales, production cutbacks and weak prices for competing natural gas.

Revenue rose to $764.3 million versus $554.6 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, 25 cents per share on revenue of $765.4 million.

Arch said the average sales price of coal per ton was 6 percent higher than a year ago, though operating costs inched up 2 percent per ton. Arch said it averaged $18.86 for each of the 38.1 million tons of coal it sold in the second quarter, better production than the 27.4 million last year when black ore fetched $19.43 a ton.

Arch left its production outlook for the year unchanged, still expecting 147 million to 155 million tons, excluding coal bought from third parties.

Over the first half of this year, Arch said it has earned $64.5 million, or 40 cents per share, on $1.48 billion in revenue, up from $15.4 million, or 11 cents per share, on $1.24 billion in sales during the same time a year ago.

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Mining environmental engineers: Bearse bets on future in coal him had done.

“I’d never really put any thought into it until my senior year of high school,” he said. “I knew as soon While most college students are as I set foot underground, that floating along, changing majors that’s what I wanted to do.” and not having a clue what they “Chas started working underwant to do for the rest of their ground a few days after he turned lives, Charles L. Bearse IV of 18,” his father said. “He spent that University of Kentucky, is right on the ball. Charles, whose friends summer on the working end of a and family refer to him as “Chas,” shovel, which for him was like getting paid to go to the gym.” is well on his way to a successful Charles said his son was a certimine engineering career. fied miner before his Freshman Son of Charles L. Bearse III and year of college. That next sumKaren Bearse, and sister of Anne mer, he was eager to get back Bearse, Chas said he wants to underground, but his dad wanted learn as much as possible about to make sure he understood that his future industry while in colthis industry was hard work. lege, so that he can hit the ground Bearse said he understands the running when he gets out. He level of work involved, but for already has a great start. As an him, it is well worth it. intern at Massey Energy — “It’s hard work, that you can through which he has a scholaractually physically see what ship toward his education, continyou’re doing every day. It’s somegent on the plan that he will work thing to be proud of,” he said. for the company when he graduAnd as for the recent criticism ates — he already has a future job and attacks on mining? Bearse waiting on him. said never once has he heard anyHow can he be so certain that thing about mining that made him this is what he wants to do? Its question his decision to go into just something he said is in his this industry. blood.

“I’m I guess kind of “You can ask just about “There’s no way I’ve been discourlike a third genera- any coal miner out tion engineer,” there if they’re proud of aged,” he said. “If it’s Bearse said. what they’re doing, and anything, encouraged me to His grandfather studied Engineering they’ll tell you they’re study as much as I absolutely proud of can while I’m here at Brown University, and his what they do,” he said. and not take it for father did the same “It’s not just a job. It’s granted.”

He said he really at Michigan Tech, a profession. believes in what this where he concenindustry stands for trated specifically in –– Chas Bearse and really feels that mining. He is now the work of mining the President of improves life for everyone in this Sidney Coal Company, which is area. part of Massey. The fourth Bearse He noted that the state of man said he wants to follow in his Kentucky has the 4th lowest cost father’s footsteps, and of this, he of electricity, saying, “It definitely has been sure for a while now. He has it’s benefits for the state of started developing those engineerKentucky. It’s proven that there’s ing skills at an early age.

“Chas has always liked mechani- 250 years worth of reserves left.

We’re doing our job to mine coal cal things and wheels,” his father safe and to do it productively.”

Charles said. “In high school he Bearse said he will not let nay raced motocross. The first year, as we worked on the bike each week, sayers affect his attitude toward the job that he loves, noting that I showed him how to maintain it. some people just don’t take the After that, he did it all himself.” time to think about it.

But it wasn’t until high school, “The majority of people don’t that Bearse knew exactly what he think about where their electricity wanted to do with these skills — comes from,” he said. “They don’t the same thing his father before

By Kendall Atkins Staff Writer

Charles ‘Chas’ Bearse is a mining engineering student at the University of Kentucky. think about the men who work underground every day and put their hard work into it so that we can get that coal.”

He said one of his favorite aspects of the industry, is the bond of comradery that the men form with one another.

“You think about the amount of time that they spend with each other,” he said. “There’s nobody else under there. It’s just them. It really is like a family. You watch out for one another.”

He said there is also a shared sense of pride in the work that they do on a daily basis.

“You can ask just about any coal miner out there if they’re proud of what they’re doing, and they’ll tell you they’re absolutely proud of what they do,” he said. “It’s not just a job. It’s a profession.”

That pride and ambition was evident to Bearse’s internship employers at Massey.

“The past two summers, anything I’ve asked him to do, he’s taken seriousy,” said Troy Gullett, surface mine engineer of Logan County. “He’s not afraid of work by any means. He’s a real good communicator. He’ll make a great manager in the coal company someday.”

Gullett said he, himself recently graduated from college, and he believes Bearse has qualities of maturity and wisdom beyond his years that are rare to find. He said it is unusual to see a college student who is so driven and set on what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

“I graduated in 2008, and I’ll say that Chas is one of few,” he said.

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Rand Paul speaks at coal appreciation day Paul said what many people don’t realize is just how many business are interrelated with the coal industry.

Republican Senate nominee “If you work in the Pizza Hut Rand Paul was among the mix here, the coal miners come in of speakers at the second Coal Appreciation Day, held Saturday, there and buy pizza,” he said.

“We need to be, I think, proud of Aug. 14 at the Knott County the coal industry.”

Sportsplex. Built on a former He said that there are also two mountaintop removal site with aluminum plants in Henderson coal severance tax money, this that have chosen the area as was a highly appropriate locatheir location because of cheap tion for the event. electricity, and As part of his if we get cap campaign trail, “We have a president and trade and Paul made the stop who is forcing the EPA their electricity to Knott County down our throats. Even prices go up, on this day to they will be show thousands of without changing the to shut Eastern rules, the EPA is stifling forced down, resulting Kentuckians that the permit process, and in the loss of he understands people (are) out of work more jobs. their concerns as citizens of a local- here because of the presi- Paul said he shares a lot of ity, in which the common ground economy is fueled dent and his policies.” with the people by coal.

“I’m of the opin~ Rand Paul of Eastern Kentucky. ion that coal is an “I think people incredibly important part of in the country side are independKentucky, past, present and ent spirits,” he said. “They may future,” he said. own a gun. I own a gun. They Paul said that it is not only the may not want to be told what to miners, whose jobs are affected do all the time. I don’t like by the coal industry. being told what to do all the “A lot of people try to downtime, and they don’t think that play it and say, ‘oh it’s not that someone somewhere else that many jobs,’” he said. “But it’s thinks they’re smarter than them, not just the jobs out here.”

By Kendall Atkins Livick Staff Writer

News-Express photos by Jerry Boggs Local legislators including state Representatives Leslie Combs(above) and state Senator Ray Jones took to the state at the Rally for Coal held Saturday at the Knott County Sportsplex to express their support for the coal industry and decry legislation they view as an attack on coal mining.

Paul speaking at a coal appreciation event in Knott County said that Obama “cares nothing about Kentucky and cares even less about Kentucky coal.” The Kentucky candidate is strongly against a federally enforced cap and trade scheme, which he has noted would punish the coal industry and cause electricity prices to rise. AP Photo. should tell them what to do.”

That someone who thinks they’re smarter he was referring to is President Obama.

“I think that’s the way I perceive our President,” Paul said.

“He probably means well, but he thinks he knows better than those people living here, what to do. Part of our philosophies as Republicans is, that we believe you know what’s best for you, and you know what’s best for your family.”

Paul made a point of stating that his philosophy is not to say that society should just run amuck, but rather that people should be entitled to their own decision making.

“There are certain rules,” he said. “You can’t harm people physically, and you can’t do certain things, but pretty much, we want you to be left alone to make decisions for you and your family — where you go to church, where you work — and so, we’re more for keeping the government out of your way.”

This is the kind of philosophy that has earned Paul criticism in the past, regarding his take on mining regulations. He said some of the statements in the media have portrayed a mischaracterization of his position.

“All the headlines say, ‘Rand Paul doesn’t believe in regulations.’ Well that’s just not true,” Paul said. “There are certain regulations out there, and they do

help us. Obviously everybody wants the walls and the roof supported in mines.”

He said the only issue he has is when authorities shut down a mine because of a broken light, or something similar that is not directly related to safety precaution.

“Sure you should still fix the broken tail light, so I’m not event against that, but I’m just saying let’s not just shut down coal mines because you have infractions that don’t involve safety,” he said.

Aside from wanting to set the record straight, Paul said he came to coal appreciation day, not only to show similarities between himself and the people of Eastern Kentucky as part of his campaign, but also because he simply likes the area and the friendly people in it.

“I think they appreciate and respect the fact that someone cares about this part of the state and is willing to come out here,” he said. “Some of the best friends I’ve made in the campaign are like from Harlan and Middlesborough and Hazard, and all over.”

Paul said he has been to the area a lot recently and plans on making more trips.

Besides the speakers, Coal Appreciation day included free food and festivities such as games and a performance from Stella Parton.

Bearse’s college friend, Zach Gibson, who is in his same major and has known him since Freshman year, agreed that Bearse stands out in a way that few do.

“He’s got his mind set on what he wants to do. Since I met him freshman year, he’s known what he wants to do and he still holds true to that,” Gibson said.

He said, part of the reason Bearse is ahead of the game, is that his first internship was a very positive experience, and he knew immediately this was the job for him.

“A lot of students are in the here and now,” Gibson said.

“Even with interning, every student just interns to find out what they want to do. I think he gained that before a lot of students do.”

Gibson said, Bearse’s work ethic in school and plenty of internship experience, have given him an insight into the industry, and he never hesitates to take charge of leadership roles during group projects.

“He can be laid back, but at the same time, he’s very ambi-

tious to where he wants to get things done and wants to get things accomplished,” he said. ”He has a good foundation for what he wants to do in life.” — which is to obtain a position in management.

“He’s got the work ethic to one day be president of a mining complex,” Gibson said.

Friends of Bearse said this work ethic most likely has everything to do with his upbringing.

Gibson said he thinks his friend’s ambition and drive come from his dad.

Gullett agreed, saying, “I think he’s picked up a lot of Charlie’s good skills. I think that’s really made Chas what he is today. I think it speaks highly of his dad the way Chas has turned out.”

His dad said while he never forced the industry on Chas, he is glad they have yet another common interest to share.

“I have never pushed him to go in a specific direction, but rather encouraged his interests,” he said. “We gave him the opportunity to choose any career. He chose mining because he likes

it, and he can make a career of it right here at home. My pride in him stems from who he is, not the direction he's chosen; but it's great having him in the business, because it's another thing we can do together.”

Both father and son are excited about the idea of working for the same company. Chas said he has a great time thinking about where this career could take him.

“Every day that goes by, it seems like I get more and more passionate,” he said.

His dad is happy and proud that his son earned this opportunity in the first place.

“Chas and I are lucky to be working for a company that understands the value of developing talent. I started with Massey in 1983, doing the same things he's doing now,” he said.

“Today we have about 25 engineering intern students in Massey. These are great opportunities for our young men and women, right here at home, in an industry with great importance to our country.”

Bearse said he is concentrating

on building a skillset now in school, that will benefit him long-term in his career. Though he said he wants to prepare himself to hit the ground running when he graduates, those who know him think he’s already hit the ground running — so hard, in fact, that he ended up underground — and that’s exactly where he wants to be.

According to the University of Kentucky website, students in the mining engineering program who choose to co-p with mining companies, will have their choices of many training opportunities, which include on-thejob training and a steady income. A student in this type of program will usually graduate in a minimum of five years, alternating school with periods of working in the industry, during spring, summer and fall academic semesters. For more information about University of Kentucky’s mining engineering program, visit http://www.engr.uky.edu/mng/.

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DEP names panel to help guide W.Va. gas drilling

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Six gas company representatives were named Thursday to a new nine-member task force that will help the Department of Environmental Protection determine how to better regulate West Virginia's booming industry.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman, who provided the names to The Associated Press, also appointed a lobbyist for the West Virginia Environmental Council, a coal industry lawyer and an advocate for landowners' rights.

The DEP is reviewing oil and gas operations amid the growing rush to tap the natural gas supply in the Marcellus shale field

that underlies West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

Huffman is considering a twotiered regulatory system — one for conventional wells and one for the kind of deep, horizontally drilled wells that are required to reach the Marcellus reserves.

The task force will try to find consensus on some issues as DEP staff write the necessary rules, regulations and legislation.

Huffman has said the number of gas wells being permitted in West Virginia is growing faster than his inspectors' ability to keep pace. How to hire and pay the salaries of more inspectors is among the issues to be worked out.

The industry representatives on

the task force are: • Mike Brownell, director of regulatory affairs for Oklahomabased Chesapeake Energy Corp. and former chief of the water resources management division at the Susquehanna River Basin Commission; • Joe Dawley, an attorney with EQT Corp. of Pittsburgh and former general counsel to the West Virginia DEP; • James Grey, president of Triana Services Co. of Charleston; • Denny Harton, former chief executive of GasSearch Corp. of Parkersburg and a former president of the Independent Oil & Gas Association; • Ted Streit, vice president of operations for Gaddy Engineering Co. of Charleston

and chairman of the West Virginia Land & Mineral Owners Association oil and gas committee; • and Don Supcoe, secretary and general counsel for Colorado-based Energy Corporation of America.

Rounding out the committee are Dave McMahon of the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization; Nick Preservati, an attorney with the West Virginia Coal Association; and Don Garvin, legislative coordinator for the West Virginia Environmental Council. The council represents more than 50 groups around the state.

Huffman hopes to brief Gov. Joe Manchin on his plans in November, then offer proposals to legislators in January.

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Mining activists demand WVU, Nike pull uniform ad

By Vicki Smith Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Activists trying to stop mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia are furious over a Nike Inc. promotional ad for a new West Virginia football uniform designed in tribute to the 29 victims of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion.

The problem is not the color of the gear — off-white that appears coated in coal dust — or the number 29 on the coal-black helmets.

It’s the depiction of a mountaintop removal mine behind the image of a player, complete with flat, treeless mountaintop, the sound of an explosion and the image of falling rock.

The ad appears to be a tacit endorsement of the controversial form of strip mining, activists argued Thursday, and it should be yanked immediately.

WVU football is a uniting force for a small state that lacks a professional team, and Danny Chiotos of Charleston, youth organizer for the Student Environmental Action Coalition, said for the Mountaineers to seemingly take a side with this ad is upsetting people.

“I’m largely amused by it and kind of bewildered by it,” Chiotos said. “They should come up with a better ad that actually promotes WVU football and the memory of the miners and mine safety.”

By depicting a surface mine that also resembles the open pit mines of western states like Wyoming, the ad also misses a key point about Upper Big Branch: The Massey Energy Co. mine that exploded April 5 was an underground operation.

The West Virginia athletic department issued a brief statement Thursday, saying the intent was to honor coal miners and their heritage. The graphics were designed by Nike and reviewed by WVU officials.

“The intent was for the player on the field to be surrounded by coal and not as an endorsement of any one form of mining technology,” the statement said. “We are in dis-

AP Photo/Nike, HO In this image released by Nike on Tuesday, shows a Nike promotional ad showing the West Virginia University college football uniform. Mountaintop removal mining activists are demanding Nike pull its promotional ad for a new West Virginia football uniform because it features a strip mine. The gear was designed in tribute to 29 men killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. But activists,including Bob Webb, point out the mine was an underground operation. They say the ad suggests WVU and Nike endorse the controversial form of strip mining, and Webb wants apologies to the people harmed by such mines.

cussions with Nike about the graphic.”

Oregon-based Nike did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages.

The ad plunges both the school and the world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing maker into one of West Virginia’s most emotionally charged and political divisive issues.

Mountaintop removal was the sole issue of a candidate who ran in last week’s special primary to fill the seat of late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and both industry and environmentalists are lobbying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the practice.

The coal-themed Pro Combat gear will be worn for one game only this season, the Nov. 26 Backyard Brawl at Pittsburgh.

Naoma activist Bo Webb demand-

ed the immediate removal of the ad and apologies to the people in the southern coalfields who have been hurt by mountaintop mining.

“I am so angry. I love football, and I will not watch WVU again,” said Webb, who was in Washington, D.C., with other activists on Monday, urging President Barack Obama’s administration to outlaw mountaintop removal. It was a prelude to a much larger “Appalachia Rising” rally planned for Sept. 27.

“I hope the players understand that they’re being used and rise up. I’d like them to say, ‘I’m not being pimped out by Nike and the state of West Virginia and the coal industry,” he said, “and I would like to see WVU admit, ‘We made a huge mistake.’”

Webb said it’s possible the ad was designed by an artist who didn’t realize the implications of using

strip mine imagery, but he’s skeptical of Oregon-based Nike.

“Maybe they’re naive, but I doubt it,” he said. “I seriously doubt it.”

Mountaintop removal is done mainly in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Forests are clear-cut, explosives blast apart the ridgetops, and massive machines scoop the exposed coal from multiple seams. The debris left behind is dumped into valleys, covering streams with what are called valley fills.

Coal operators say it’s the most efficient way to reach some reserves, but people who live near the mines say it’s too destructive, ruining their home values, their environment and their health.

The industry, too, is planning a rally in Washington. Its Sept. 15

Continued on Page 55

been clear in rejecting the false suggestion that any of the steps EPA is taking actually threaten to weaken the economy or increase unemployment.”

Next January, the EPA plans to start regulating greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming, another cause of alarm for the coal miners.

Rockefeller has sponsored legislation to suspend that for two years.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., urged support for Rockefeller’s measure.

“We are not going to let the EPA regulate coal out of business,” he said.

Although the rally was billed as bipartisan and a number of Democrats spoke, there were some partisan comments, especially from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He said that this administration and current Congress are the most anti-coal in history.

“Send them a message on November 2,” he yelled to cheers.

The rival rally was organized by the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Music Saves Mountains campaign, which fea-

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite From left, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., attend a rally with coal mining supporters from the Appalachian states near the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 15.

tures singers and musicians who support the group’s anti-mountaintop mining effort. Only three-dozen or so people showed

up, but this isn’t the main event: opponents expect thousands to attend their Appalachia Rising rally in D.C. on Sept. 27.

People here sported signs like, “Topless Mountains are Obscene” and “Save a Mountain, Build a Windmill.”

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Coal miners rally against Obama administration

By Frederic J. Frommer Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of coal miners rallied on Capitol Hill Wednesday against the Obama administration’s attempts to rein in mountaintop removal mining, accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of trying to wipe out the coal industry.

“This administration is trying to shut down coal and fire all of you,” claimed Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., adding that the EPA was practicing “strangulation by regulation.”

The industry-backed group Faces of Coal said it paid for most of the travel and lodging expenses for the coal miners, who came from West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Speakers included politicians from both parties and country music singer Stella

Parton.

Later, country music performer Big Kenny told a smaller, rival rally of opponents of mountaintop removal that the coal industry does not speak for all of Appalachia.

In mountaintop removal mining, forests are clear-cut, explosives blast apart the rock, and machines scoop out the exposed coal. The earth left behind is dumped into valleys, covering intermittent streams. Coal operators say it’s the most efficient way to reach some reserves, and that it supports tens of thousands of jobs and provides coal for electricity. Opponents say it pollutes water, defaces majestic scenery and obliterates the quiet country environment.

The coal industry has filed a lawsuit against the EPA’s new policy which tightened water quality standards for valley fills at surface coal

mines in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said the goal is a standard so strict that few, if any, permits would be issued for valley fills.

Ralliers wore blue Faces of Coal Tshirts, and some sported hard hats.

They hoisted signs that said, “Coal Keeps the Lights on,” and “Coal Miners ‘Dig’ Their Jobs.”

When an opening prayer was given, it included thanks to God for natural resources such as coal.

“They’re trying to take our jobs,” yelled Haven King, a 65-year-old retired coal miner from Hazard, Ky. “We have to stand up.”

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, said that the EPA is blocking jobs.

“West Virginia will fight back and every coal state must fight back,”

he said.

The state’s senior senator, Democrat Jay Rockefeller, said that the EPA’s Jackson “doesn’t understand the sensitivities economically of what unemployment means. Her job is relatively simple: clean everything up, keep it clean, don’t do anything to disturb perfection.

Well, you can’t do coal and do that at the same time. God didn’t make coal to be an easy thing to work with.”

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan responded: “This administrator has Above: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., addresses mining supporters from the Appalachian states during a rally Wednesday, Sept. 15 near the Capitol in Washington.

Continued from Page 54 event will focus on what it considers unfair regulations and the need for jobs.

WVU senior Joe Gorman said Nike and the school should honor underground miners “without glorifying the mountaintop removal that’s destroying West Virginia’s heritage and the mountains that make us the Mountaineers.”

“The ad says, ‘It’s just the way things are done in West Virginia,’” Gorman said, “but miners and residents of the southern coalfields have been fighting strip mining and mountaintop removal since before I was born, and that’s something to be proud of, too.”

——— Online: Nike ad: http://bit.ly/9XIUv9 Appalachia Rising: www.appalachiarising.org Faces of Coal: http://www.facesofcoal.org/index.php

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EASTERN KENTUCKY’S

NATURAL RESOURCES A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE APPALACHIAN NEWS-EXPRESS

Inside This Issue OCTOBER 2010 PUBLISHER - JEFF VANDERBECK EDITOR - JERRY BOGGS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIKE DAVIS SECTION DESIGN AND LAYOUT TRACIE VANDERBECK ANDREW LITTLETON ADVERTISING DESIGN TABITHA ADKINS ANDREW LITTLETON SALES; MELISSA KELLER, TONY THACKER, AIMEE THACKER, LYNN MASSEY, KRISTA DUTY COVER PHOTO - CHRIS ANDERSON

6 Coal miners rally against Obama administration 10 Rand Paul speaks at coal appreciation day

40 Energy and Environment Cabinet prepares for Annual Governor’s Conference

12 ICG Letter to News-Express Editor

42 Old-Style coal plants expanding

14 Buses depart Pikeville for Washington coal rally

45 Mingo renewable energy projects receive funding

17 Wright Concrete receives Excellence Entrepreneurship Award

46 U. S. mining official to tour Mingo postmine land uses

20 Paul tours plant to tout coal 24 Rep. Keith Hall stands up for miners at “Bring Them Home Safe!” event 32 Mine rescue competition 34 Mine Safety agency has new rule after W. Va. blast 36 2010 Commissioner’s award of excellence

49 Arch Coal 2Q profit surges on global sales 50 Mining environmental engineers: Bearse bets on future in coal 52 DEP names panel to help guide W. Va. gas drilling 54 Mining activists demand WVU, Nike pull uniform ad

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