Truman Chafin: Why is this man a Democrat?

Truman Should Talk to Nicky Joe Rahall (4.00 / 2)

From an article in the Beckley Register-Herald by Mannix Porterfield on October 1st.

The Environmental Protection Agency is simply doing its job by holding up surface mining permits and the industry was well aware a year ago the review was coming, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said Thursday. Rahall took exception to Gov. Joe Manchin’s charge that the EPA was out to ban surface mining through regulation since it cannot be done via legislation. “They can’t do it either way,” Rahall said in an interview from his Capitol office. “And I think that is being fair to coalfield residents and to the industry. By the time it all shakes out, I hope that there will be certainty and a clear path forward through which industry can make continued permit applications, providing jobs in our coal industry, which is so vital. I recognize that as much as the next person.”

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Folks in southern West Virginia are being told by Friends of Coal, local Chambers of Commerce and Big Coal that without Mountaintop removal we would be out of the coal business. I have heard numbers quoted by some folks that 60% of West Virginia's coal is mined at MTR sites.   We know it's bulls**t,, but many sure buy into that frame. The real threat to appalachia is from MTR, and these folks seem to forget that Obviously Manchin and Chafin are playing to that crowd.

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by: wvblueguy @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 09:14:01 AM CDT

H. Truman Chafin has another namesake besides Harry Truman. (4.00 / 4)

Ol' Sheriff Don Chafin (of Logan county) was a company man all the way.

In 1921, he mobilized a small army of deputies - later formally organized into the militia by order of the governor - which met the union organizers in skirmishes at Blair Mountain on the Boone - Logan county border and in the Crooked Creek section. Thousands of shots were fired and much blood shed but there were relatively few casualties. Once source says 47 were killed and more than 100 injured.

Mingo County then the center of organizing activity, was under martial law. Union miners in Kanawha heard rumors that their comrades to the south were being mistreated. That started their march south through Boone and Logan. On their way they planned to break down Chafin's non-union stronghold. Their favorite marching song was "Hang Don Chafin to a Sour Apple Tree."

Eventually federal troops were called in, disarmed both sides and restored order.

Chafin was a prominent figure in a series of trails, held in various counties, in which various union men were charged with the deaths of three deputies, killed in one of the few face-to face clashes between the two forces. Out of more than 1,000 indictments, there were three convictions. The rest of the cases were dropped. source  

If it hasn't died from coal slurry polluted groundwater, someone should now cut a switch from that sour apple tree and use it on H. Truman Chafin, because the 1977 federal Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act requires real development on land that has been mined by mountaintop removal. But thanks to Chafin and his pal Joe Manchin, it one of the most ignored MTR laws to date. Last I checked, less than 2% of the acreage permitted for mountaintop removal has seen any real development. Most of it has been classified as "fish and wildlife habitat", which is illegal under the statute. And since mountaintop removal leaves no recoverable coal behind, WV's post-coal era will come to sooner rather than later, leaving Chafin's Mingo county constituents to twist slowly in the wind.

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by: One Citizen @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 10:29:08 AM CDT

Look at Mongiardo! (0.00 / 0)

This is what Mongiardo said last night:

"It may look bad while it is happening, but in the end it will only leave a small scar."

"We should stop calling it mountaintop removal, instead call it mountaintop development."

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by: WV26003 @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 12:55:14 PM CDT

A better question (4.00 / 2)

Who is responsible for making this man Democratic Majority Leader? Who believes he should lead the Democratic Party in the Senate? Who supported him as Majority Leader? Surely he didn't rise to the position by himself.  

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by: wv voice of reason @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 19:34:12 PM CDT

that's what I want to know, too (0.00 / 0)

When is the next chance to vote him out of that position? Who else has a chance? What can we do to help them?

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by: Clem Guttata @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 20:05:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That comment is nothing compared to this (4.00 / 2)

This is an opinion piece Sen. Chafin recently had published in the Williamson Daily News.

From the Senator's desk: You Better Be Scared.....

If you care about Mingo County and southernmost West Virginia, if you care about your job, if you care about your future, it is time for you to stand up and be counted.  The U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) is an unelected, bureaucratic agency and it has decided to hold up 79 surface mining permits in Appalachia, which includes 23 in West Virginia.

The EPA claims that the coal mining permits, as now proposed, would damage water supplies.  The Obama administration is cheering this action, and it is moving to push our nation away from its dependency on coal. We shouldn't be surprised as these same individuals told us, before they were appointed, that coal, in their opinion, is destructive;  the action of removing mountain tops and seams of coal is damaging the environment, and they want to pursue an alternate route for energy. Thus, without the passage of any law, without any input  from southern West Virginia or other coal producing states, an appointed  bureaucratic agency has decided to halt the mining process, which in effect will eventually shut down our coal industry destroying jobs and our way of life.  

The Magna Carta , written in 1215 says that.... "Justice delayed is Justice denied."  You guessed it, delay, delay, and more delay is what the EPA is do-ing  to close our  coal in-dustry in Mingo County and southernmost West Virginia.  

This is indeed a critical moment for all of us. Senator Rockefeller, Sen-ator Byrd, Congressman Rahall, Governor Manchin and the rest of West Virginia's Democratic representatives in Washington and in Charleston, including myself, as well as UMWA President Cecil Roberts, must march to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and then to  President Obama himself, and demand that this bureaucratic obstruction by the EPA end and end NOW.

Oh yea, please remember,  that it was my honor to campaign for, introduce and travel throughout southern West Virginia with Hillary Clinton and Bill Clin-ton. Mingo County and southern West Virginia overwhelmingly voted for Clinton  because we knew who Obama would appoint to these powerful regulatory positions.

I suppose that we  should not be surprised, because President Obama made public his positions on coal well before the election. He and the liberal establishment simply don't like coal and think it is dirty, dangerous, and that it pollutes the water and air. Do they really want to put all of us out of a job, whereby our children and families will suffer? Well, it will have that effect if they keep reviewing and withholding our mining permits.

I am, and have always been, a strong supporter of our U.S. senators and congressmen, but I also strongly disagreed with them when they chose to endorse President Obama early, and at a critical time in the democratic nomination pro-cess. Along with Governor Manchin they could have helped Hillary Clinton gain the democratic nomination for president. Any democrat nominated was almost guaranteed to win due to the mess that was left from the Bush administration on almost every front.  

The question now be-comes, "How will we and our representatives respond?"  

We have to stand up, unite, write letters, send e-mails, and stand together as never before as we fight for our jobs, our future, and for the coal industry. We are an energy state. Our wagon is hitched to coal and coal keeps the lights on, provides electricity and warmth for our nation, and it is unfairly under siege.  

On the local level, now is not the time for political bickering, grand-standing, or rock-throwing. All officials, U.S., state and local must join hands and march to Washington and demand corrective action from the Obama administration.  

And to our congressional delegation and governor, who supported and endorsed President Obama, well,  this chicken has now come home to roost. It is now time they call 'in' their political note for their support of him.  As the old saying goes, "It's time for President Obama to dance with the ones that brung him."

Here's the link for the article

http://www.williamsondailynews...

Sen. Chafin makes Karl Rove look like a fearmongering amateur.  He's facing a tough reelection against the same candidate that nearly beat him last time.  He really has no business being Senate Majority Leader!

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by: mountaineer_maniac @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 20:19:10 PM CDT

. (4.00 / 2)

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone can get elected in Mingo County without having their head up Blankenship's butt.

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by: heath_harrison @ Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 22:19:15 PM CDT

Like being elected is more sanctioned..... (0.00 / 0)

....than being appointed, give me a break.  I hear he's a pilot and owns a private plane, I guess so he can fly over MTR sites and imagine the economic development coming in the (not too) distant future.....hhmmm....we're waiting Senator Chafin....how about growing some bio-matter on those sites to grow the fuel of the future?...good luck (without topsoil)

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by: JBdem4usa @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 07:39:43 AM CDT