Published in the May 2006 American Longwall Magazine

An awareness initiative established by West Virginia Coal Association (WVCA), the logos are now seen well beyond the “wild, wonderful” Appalachian mountains – Friends of Coal adornments can be found throughout the eastern and Midwestern US.

That is just the way they intended it to be, said West Virginia Coal Association vice president Dan Miller. “We don’t stop at the borders [of West Virginia],” he said. “We have members in 37 states.”

Miller said the Friends of Coal motto really says it all about its motivation: they exist for the purpose of informing and educating the general public about the industry and its importance to the future of the state. “Our goal,” the credo states, “is to provide a united voice for an industry that has been and remains a critical economic contributor to West Virginia.”

West Virginia Coal Association, established in 1915, merged efforts with West Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association, a trade organization for surface mining, in 2001. WVCA now boasts a membership of 200 company members made up of industry-related organizations and coal operators. The assessed membership fees WVCA members pay are what keeps Friends of Coal’s wheels turning, Miller said.

Friends of Coal, whose roster is now about 18,000 and growing daily, came about in the summer of 2002. It was WVCA representative Warren Hylton who spurred the idea to create the group, according to Miller, with one key phrase: “We have a lot of friends who are willing to help us if we just ask them to” and out of that was born the concept of Friends of Coal.

The idea took off when the WVCA membership heard about it, he said, and the hiring of a public relations firm to assist in building on the Friends of Coal concept soon followed. “We really didn’t sit down and draw up a plan of what to do,” Miller admitted. “We sat down and brainstormed ... and learned as we went – and we learned quite a lot.”

WVCA members had confidence that Friends of Coal would grow even by word of mouth, Miller said, as that method had worked so successfully for WVCA itself. “We know that for every member company we have, two more join because they do business with them.”

That growth was certain to be mirrored, he said, because of the sheer number of people with family ties to a coal miner – an estimated 120,000 in West Virginia alone – not to mention those with ties to coal-related companies and mine suppliers. The WVCA estimates that there are currently between 16,000 and 17,000 active direct employees of coal mines in the state, and another 35,000 that work within the industry as contract employees.

Miller emphasized the fact that the Friends of Coal do not want members’ money, as there is no membership fee. What they do want is help and support from the public.

“We’re not asking for you to do anything in particular, we just want you to stand up and be counted,” he said, but added that there are voluntary projects members can take part in such as posting signs with the Friends of Coal logo on their property or assisting with the group’s projects.

To ensure WVCA and Friends of Coal are tied together, Miller said their logos are very similar and both are marketed on similar items, from baseball caps to license plates to hard hat emblems to bumper stickers.

Their growth has also allowed a campaign that includes television and print ads, some of which include regional sports celebrities Don Nehlen and Bob Pruett, and the organization sponsors student athletics in West Virginia.

Randy Coleman, agency representative for West Virginia PR firm Charles Ryan and Associates, is just as passionate about Friends of Coal as Miller is. “From an outsider’s perspective, it’s an incredible campaign,” said Coleman, who is heavily involved with the initiative’s efforts.

What used to be a poor perception of coal mining, Coleman added, has really been reversed by the group. “Friends of Coal has turned a lot of the public’s perceptions around.”

“The necessity of coal is tied to the prosperity of [the state],” Miller said, and that fact is reflected in its diverse membership. “If you look at our membership, it’s not all coal miners. I’d say [they are] a minority.”

Miller recalled a quote by WVCA president Bill Raney on the uniqueness of the coal miner and their vital importance to the future of their families as well as the public – and ultimately why Friend of Coal exists. “He’s got an interesting perspective on it; he said, ‘When a coal miner goes in and takes coal, he’s going where no one else has ever been before – and does it every day’.”