King Coal costs the state more than it brings in

by: Carnacki

Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 09:33:24 AM EDT

A new report details how expensive King Coal's reign of destruction is on the state.

A new report analyzing West Virginia's coal-related income and expenses concludes that the industry actually costs the state.

The report was issued by Downstream Strategies-a Morgantown-based environmental consulting firm-and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. After taking nearly all of coal's direct and indirect costs and benefits to state coffers into account, it concludes that the industry cost the state more than $97 million in fiscal year 2009.

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The report looks at many of the industry's direct and indirect impacts on the state. There are coal severance taxes, as well as the taxes paid by the more than 21,000 West Virginians who were employed by the industry in 2009. There are also expenses, like the state government jobs that wouldn't exist without the coal industry, repairing roads damaged by coal trucks and the tax breaks the industry gets. The report also takes into account the jobs that are indirectly created by the coal industry.

Even so, the report shows the industry is costing West Virginia. Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch outlines some of the industry's costs that weren't considered.

"The individual citizen whose health is damaged and who have to pay medical bills does not go into the report," he said. "The cost of individual citizens having to provide their own drinking water does not go into the report. So in many ways, many of the costs are not being reflected in this report that our state needs to look closely at all of the costs associated with this industry."

The coal industry socializes the expenses and privatizes the profits in this state.