The rally was held at Apogee Coal’s Guyun operation in Logan County to speak against anti-coal groups who are fighting both surface and underground federal permits for mines as well as issues such as mountaintop removal and impoundments.
The rally was sponsored by the Logan County Commission, the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, the Logan County Coal Vendors and the United Mine Workers of America.
“West Virginia’s economy is under attack,” WV Chamber of Commerce president Steve Roberts and US union AFL-CIO president Kenny Perdue said in a statement last week which was reprinted in the Charleston Gazette.
“This attack is being focused on the state’s coal industry, which supports nearly one-fourth of West Virginia’s economy, pays nearly $US1 billion in annual direct wages and provides hundreds of millions in dollars in state and local taxes.
“The latest attack on West Virginia coal is a series of targeted attacks on the federal permits needed for coal mining – both underground and above ground. West Virginians … must recognise that this campaign is not about improving the environment, but instead involves a calculated attempt to destroy a foundational industry that provides employment to hundreds of thousands of people in our state.”
Representatives of another coal advocacy group in the state, the West Virginia Coal Association, said the gathering “clearly got the message out to the public”, according to an email statement to its members.
“That message – we are united as the West Virginia coal industry to collectively defend Apogee in the upcoming injunction hearing before Judge Joseph "Joe Bob" Goodwin – came across loud and clear,” WVCA said.
The referenced injunction would be permanent, and the hearing for its decision is scheduled for May 31 in Charleston Federal Court in the state’s capital city.
Speaking on behalf of the industry both in the media and at the rally were a long list of industry figures and supporters, including state Governor Joe Manchin, Friends of Coal spokesperson Don Nehlen, UMWA president Cecil Roberts, the nation’s AFL-CIO union, local union leaders for the Apogee operation and several officials from local government.
Because West Virginia is one of the nation’s top coal producers, Roberts and Perdue said the effects of continued local attacks against the industry would have a ripple effect on the entire state.
“Without the wages and benefits provided by the state’s coal industry, many, many West Virginians would be out of work and out of luck,” they said. “The resulting hardship and pain would be felt by everyone in our state.”
They said such an effect could also be felt by the nation as a whole: “West Virginia is an energy state, and one that we are proud to be a part of because now more than ever, this nation needs reliable, dependable sources of domestic energy. The nation’s coal industry is responding to our changing world and is focused on the use of clean coal technologies and advances in mining operations and techniques; the industry also is investing in new safety programs and procedures.
“What the coal industry – and our state – do not need are more attacks and legal actions by groups bent on its destruction. West Virginians from all walks of life should be outraged by this and should speak up to put an end to these misguided campaigns ... we must preserve West Virginia’s coal industry and its communities.”
