West Virginia Blue
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(Reposted in case you missed it the first time. - promoted by Clem Guttata)
By Clem Guttata
Coal CEOs get political representation, what about the rest of us?
Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll requested a meeting and he got it. Michael Browning reported (emphasis mine):
Kirkendoll has asked Gov. Joe Manchin for a meeting with him, commission presidents from Lincoln, Boone, Mingo and Kanawha counties, the EPA, the Division of Environmental Protection, Congressman Nick Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, representatives from U.S. senators Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller's offices and officials from the coal industry.
Today at 3 p.m., the group will meet privately in the governor's office to discuss coal's future and the economic impact it has on the state and nation.
"This meeting was way overdue to have all the major coal producers' officials together with the EPA and the DEP, the congressional people and the commission presidents from the five major coal-producing counties that spend the money and try to create activities on coal tax," Kirkendoll said. "Everybody that has a stake in what we do will be there. Instead of each of us writing letters, I wanted to get us all together - the people who are investing their money, who are spending the money, the people who are making laws and making the rules - so that we can ask how do we a qualify permits that are solid and work. I sent the governor a letter and he thought it was a great idea so he put the meeting together."
Kirkendoll doesn't think anyone downstream has a stake in coal mining. He doesn't think it matters that we drink the same water, breath the same air, or--point of fact--actually pay for the electricity that makes that coal valuable.
...the list of expected attendees includes Massey Energy President Don Blankenship, CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey and International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield. Two members of Congress will be there, as will county commissioners from the state's major coal producing counties, and top officials from a dozen or more other coal companies. It's a big deal to get all those folks in the same room, and it seems like the public ought to know what is said.
With enough twists to fill a pretzel factor, Gov. Manchin and his communications director, Matt Turner, said there was no need to invite potential critics of coal mining practices because:
"the meeting is not about environmental regulations." (AP - via)
"This is not about the environment. This is about the economic plight the (coalfield local government officials) are being put in." (source)
The meeting happened this afternoon outside the Governor's Mansion in a party tent literally bought and paid for by coal industry donors, (I kid you not... you couldn't make this stuff up) and was followed by a press conference.
Nov. 10, 2009 - CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Gov. Joe Manchin, joined by West Virginia elected officials: U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Speaker Rick Thompson and various other state leaders, county commissioners, representatives from the coal industry and labor met to discuss the future of coal in West Virginia during a press conference. Photos by: Steven W. Rotsch
West Virginia political leaders promised Tuesday to speak "with one voice" to clarify the Obama administration's proposals to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal coal mining.
Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and Reps. Nick J. Rahall and Shelley Moore Capito said they would join forces to seek a high-level White House meeting to raise coal industry concerns about tougher permit reviews instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"It's about the economy of West Virginia," Manchin said at a news conference after a two-hour, closed-door meeting with industry leaders. "We're just trying to find that balance right now."
I'd like someone to ask Gov. Manchin what it is that he's trying to "balance"? As far as I can tell, "balance" is his code word for stopping any tighter environmental regulation enforcement.
Coal company CEOs have been guaranteed a voice in Washington. The Gov. of West Virginia, Sen. Rockefeller, Rep. Rahall and Rep. Capito stood at a podium this afternoon and promised to speak "with one voice" in Washington, DC on their behalf.
The citizens of West Virginia did not elect these officials to represent coal company executives, they serve to represent us all.
What is good for Don Blankenship is not what is good for all of West Virginia. What is good for CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey is not what is good for all of West Virginia (just ask the residents of the Dunkard Creek watershed). What is good for International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield is not what is good for all of West Virginia.
We need political leaders who will lead for all West Virginians, not political followers catering to the needs of coal company CEOs. We need political leaders who will ask not what they can do for coal, but what they can do for West Virginia. We need political leaders who can honor both our heritage and our future.
You can't be friends with coal. You can't be a friend of coal. You can't be coal's enemy or out to destroy coal or declare a war on coal. Coal is just a black rock. To be more specific, it's a "black or dark brown mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter." It cannot be your friend or your enemy.
I am writing this in response to the many articles, editorials, ads, billboards, radio spots and just run of the mill conversations that I have seen and heard concerning coal since I moved back to the Ohio Valley last summer. I am tired of the all or nothing, with us or against us attitude that so many seem to have around this issue. People claim to be "friends of coal" and berate imagined scary liberals in Washington who are out to "destroy coal."
After 29 workers died at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, talkshow host Rush Limbaugh (4/9/10) fingered the culprit: the miners' union. "Where was the union?" he asked. "The union is generally holding these companies up demanding all kinds of safety. Why were these miners continuing to work in what apparently was an unsafe atmosphere?" As it turned out, the mine, owned by notorious union-buster Massey Energy, didn't have a union. Alerted to his inaccuracy, Limbaugh (4/15/10) doubled down, saying that 85 union coal miners won a decision against Massey and were re-hired. "So there were union workers there, and so the United Mine Workers should have been overseeing their safety.... You people, it's been 21 years. At some point you are going to learn: If you go up against me on a challenge of fact, you are going to be wrong. It's just that simple." What's even simpler? Disproving him: Those workers he's talking about are from an entirely different mine owned by Massey--which has appealed the ruling, so even those workers aren't back on the job yet (AFL-CIO Blog, 4/16/10).
As noted earlier this year, the fact that Massey's mines are non-union is common knowledge in West Virginia. You really have to wonder what the thought process is like in a local conservative's head, when they hear Rush spew something they know is blatantly false and they have to come up with a justification to continue to believe his every word as gospel.
An important article came out in Nature magazine this week, in "The end of cheap coal" authors Richard Heinberg and David Fridley note that "new forecasts suggest that coal reserves will run out faster than many believe. Energy policies relying on cheap coal have no future." (Full article requires subscription; more coverage at Bloomberg.)
Here's the key summary from the article (emphasis mine):
World energy policy is gripped by a fallacy - the idea that coal is destined to stay cheap for decades to come. This assumption supports investment in 'clean-coal' technology and trumps serious efforts to increase energy conservation and develop alternative energy sources. It is an important enough assumption about our energy future that it demands closer examination.
There are two reasons to believe that coal prices are likely to soar in the years ahead. First, a spate of recent studies suggests that available, useful coal may be less abundant than has been assumed - indeed that the peak of world coal production may be only years away. One pessimistic study published in 2010 concluded that global energy derived from coal could peak as early as 2011.
Second, global demand is growing rapidly, largely driven by China. Demand rose modestly in the 1990s (0.45% per year), but since 2000 it has been surging at 3.8% per year. China is both the world's biggest producer of coal (40% of global production) and its biggest consumer. Its influence on future coal prices should not be underestimated.
Economic shocks from rising coal prices will be felt by every sector of society. Better data on global coal supplies is long overdue and energy policies that assume a bottomless coal pit need rethinking urgently.
Personal vehicles and coal trucks just don't seem to get along.
Reported Jul. 23, 2010 10:38 PM EDT
A 19-year-old is dead after his car hit a coal truck. It happened on Wednesday just before noon in Fayette County on Route 61 in the Robson area near Beards Fork.
It doesn't seem to matter if you are a new and possibly inexperienced driver.
Sunday Aug. 29, 2010
CUMBERLAND - A 20-year-old Evarts man died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle collision Saturday morning on U.S. 119 near Cumberland in Harlan County, Kentucky State Police said.
Even more mature drivers have problems.
Updated Saturday October 2, 2010; 12:59 PM
Kanawha Sheriff's Deputies are reconstructing the crash that claimed two lives in Kanawha county Friday afternoon. Sheriff's say the head on collision between a Coal truck and a pickup truck occurred just before 2 p.m. on Route 60 near Glasgow.
Wonder how this became a "head on collision". And how two survived.
New York Times editorial points out the efforts by Democrats to pass mining safety improvements are being met with resistance by Congressional Republicans:
As investigations proceed into the biggest mine disaster in 40 years, Congress is its usual study in partisan obstruction, with Republicans in no hurry to rectify lethal workplace risks laid bare by the disaster. The majority Democrats' reform measure, endorsed by the Obama administration, would crack down on reckless mining companies with stronger monitoring and criminal penalties, subpoena-empowered investigations, and protections against the dismissal of miners who dare to complain about risks to life down below.
Congressional Republicans, echoing the message of Big Coal, complain that there's a rush to make new law. One of their authoritative colleagues, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, finds the need for action now obvious. The proposal he co-sponsors aims at repeat offenders of mining regulations, like Massey Energy, that game the penalty system with extended legal appeals. It also would require better tracking of methane and coal dust and crack down on the practice of advance warnings when federal investigators approach.
If the Big Branch disaster were a terrorist deed, Republicans would be jamming the hopper with legislative antidotes. But dead miners? No rush, although it's clear that existing regulations are porous, underenforced and in crying need of repair by a responsible Congress.
Like many others, I've been thinking a lot this past week about what Sen. Robert Byrd has meant to me and, additionally, how to mark his passing. This morning I want to celebrate the legacy of Sen. Byrd I most hope will live on. I originally posted this diary on Oct 21, 2009. Sen. Byrd went further in Dec. 2009 in speaking forcefully about the benefits and costs of coal to West Virginia. This is but one of many topics that Sen. Byrd showed great courage in provided brave leadership on.
Big Daddy is gone. It's up to us now. Let's make him proud.
What most casual observers of Congress know about Senator Robert C. Byrd is he's the longest-serving member in the Senate's history and he's been incredibly successful at steering federal dollars to West Virginia.
(Political Science Professor) Rupp remembers a quote from former Democratic House speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, that Byrd posted in his office near the Senate Appropriations Committee Room inside the Capitol. It said: "Bob is a living encyclopedia, and legislative graveyards are filled with the bones of those who underestimated him."
Time and time again, Sen. Byrd has delivered for West Virginia. The question of the moment is, what does Byrd think West Virginia needs in the next energy and climate bill?
No surprise here. The GOP always puts the owners ahead of the safety of the workers. So far this week, Republicans have opposed helping the unemployed, helping homeless veterans, and improving financial reforms.
Ken Ward Jr. at the Charleston Gazette examines a MSHA report that won't get media attention outside the immediate area, but helps to explain why fatal accidents occur in mines.
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo asks an interesting question in how the investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion is public, but the investigation into the Upper Big Branch disaster is behind closed doors.
So why can the Obama administration do this for an oil industry catastrophe and not for a coal-mining disaster?
The cynical part of me thinks it's because the nation has for decades seen West Virginia as a national sacrifice zone and they don't want to know what happens here.
BECKLEY - Miners and families from the Upper Big Branch Mine on Monday described the Massey Energy operation as "a ticking time bomb," where safety problems were ignored and workers feared losing their jobs if they complained.
"I felt like I was working for the Gestapo at times," said continuous miner operator Stanley Stewart, who was on his way into Upper Big Branch when the April 5 explosion occurred.
snip
Stewart was among the witnesses this morning in Beckley at a field hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor, which is investigating mine safety problems and the death of 29 workers at Upper Big Branch.
Much of the testimony is damning.
Gary Quarles, the father of fallen miner Gary Wayne Quarles, said he has also worked at Massey mines and that the company routinely fixes safety problems only when workers underground are tipped off ahead of time that federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors are on their way.
"MSHA inspections at Massey did little to protect miners," Quarles said. "We absolutely looked to MSHA for leadership, particularly on safety issues, but MSHA has let us down many times."
The recent explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in my home county of Raleigh, which killed 29 West Virginians and injured 2 others, has brought West Virginia statewide sorrow and worldwide attention.
Reflecting on President John F. Kennedy's death, Robert F. Kennedy once said, 'Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom.'
As we seek to understand how and why the Upper Big Branch disaster occurred, we might also re-examine conventional wisdom about the future of the coal industry in our state.
Americans depend mightily on our coal to meet their energy needs. Coal is the major source of electricity in 32 states, and produces roughly half of all the electricity consumed in the United States.
As West Virginians, our birthright is coal. The ancient fossil is abundant here, and is as emblematic of our heritage and cultural identity as the black bear, the cardinal, and the rhododendron.
Indeed, the coal severance tax codifies the philosophy that the coal belongs to all West Virginians, and that they deserve meaningful compensation for its extraction. This philosophy has also been embraced nationwide, through the Black Lung Excise Tax, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fee, and several other existing and proposed programs that provide additional compensation to the people and places that produce our coal, oil, gas, and other energy resources.
Coal brings much needed jobs and revenue to our economy. But the industry has a larger footprint, including inherent responsibilities that must be acknowledged by the industry.
First and foremost, the coal industry must respect the miner and his family. A single miner's life is certainly worth the expense and effort required to enhance safety. West Virginia has some of the highest quality coal in the world, and mining it should be considered a privilege, not a right. Any company that establishes a pattern of negligence resulting in injuries and death should be replaced by a company that conducts business more responsibly. No doubt many energy companies are keen for a chance to produce West Virginia coal.
The industry of coal must also respect the land that yields the coal, as well as the people who live on the land. If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.
The sovereignty of West Virginia must also be respected. The monolithic power of industry should never dominate our politics to the detriment of local communities. Our coal mining communities do not have to be marked by a lack of economic diversity and development that can potentially squelch the voice of the people. People living in coal communities deserve to have a free hand in managing their own local affairs and public policies without undue political pressure to submit to the desires of industry.
We have coal companies in West Virginia which go out of their way to operate safely and with minimal impact on our environment. Those companies should be commended and rewarded.
But the coal industry has an immensely powerful lobby in Washington and in Charleston. For nearly a hundred years they have come to our presidents, our members of Congress, our legislators, our mayors, and our county commissioners to demand their priorities. It is only right that the people of West Virginia speak up and make the coal industry understand what is expected of it in return.
The old chestnut that 'coal is West Virginia's greatest natural resource' deserves revision. I believe that our people are West Virginia's most valuable resource. We must demand to be treated as such.
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