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W.Va. Dems explore green politics
By TOM BREEN
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Coal may keep the lights on for about half the country, but in West Virginia it also keeps politicians in office.
During this year's campaign, Republicans and Democrats alike jockeyed to prove their devotion to the fuel source, with politicians from both parties running TV ads in which they held up lumps of coal like good-luck talismans.
It might therefore seem foolhardy to give the other party an opening by disavowing any aspect of the industry, but Danny Chiotos doesn't see it that way.
Chiotos is the head of the environmental caucus of the West Virginia Young Democrats. He played a crucial role in getting that group to pass a resolution earlier this year calling for an end to new mountaintop removal permits, thereby opening a new chapter in one of the state's most contentious debates.
"There's a growing part of the party that wants to stand up for environmental jobs and deep mining jobs that would come from a moratorium on mountaintop removal mining,'' Chiotos said.
The growing visibility of the environmental caucus doesn't end there. The group also joined calls in October for Bayer to remove stockpiles of the chemicals methyl isocyanate and phosgene from its Bayer CropScience plant in Institute.
But in a state where cars with "I Love Mountains'' bumper stickers may be parked next to cars with "Friends of Coal'' stickers at the same Democratic Party rallies, nothing gets attention quite like surface mining.
Unlike underground mining, mountaintop removal is visibly destructive. Coal companies blast apart ridgetops to expose multiple coal seams so they can be mined simultaneously. It's often cheaper and faster than digging tunnels, and the industry argues it's sometimes the only way to mine the coal.
West Virginia is the nation's second-largest coal producing state behind Wyoming, and the National Mining Association estimates mountaintop removal accounts for about one-third of the state's production.
Given those facts, other members of the party -- which has long been allied with the United Mine Workers, a supporter of surface mining -- regarded the Young Democrats' resolution as misguided at best.
"It's not just the miners, we're talking about the entire economic engine in coal counties,'' said House Majority Whip Mike Caputo, a Marion County delegate who's also a UMW official.
Caputo helped narrowly defeat the resolution when it came up at the Democrats' convention during the summer. |
