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COMMENT Bob Weaver
Miners in southern West Virginia are reeling over the news that 1,100 miners may be out of a job in October, with coalfield county governments in a panic as well and state government not far behind over the loss of taxes.
In the noise about the "War of Coal," consider the rest of the story.
The coal industry and state government has long known that the fields are playing out, with the type of WV coal not the quality the current market is demanding.
While its tragic that miners are losing their jobs, WV has long leaned on the industry as an economic engine, not focusing on diversifying the economy.
Walmart is now the state's biggest employer.
Part of the market force decline on coal is the switch to natural gas, a cleaner carbon emission fuel.
The multi-billion dollar coal legacy has spawned poor economies, poverty and environmental destruction for decades, with the state's biggest coal producing counties among the poorest in the USA.
It would be accurate to say that most of coal's money went into the pockets of owners and its government supporters, left behind are communities and distressed people.
While the push for cleaner air and water has caused problems for the industry, historically in WV the EPA has given them a pretty easy passover.
Massey Coal once amassed $2 billion in unpaid fines, eventually paying pennies on the dollar.
The loss of coal jobs are added to ten of thousands of WV jobs, high paying and low paying, which have been globalized.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Win Over EPA Won't Save Southern W.Va. Coal, Experts Say
By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette
This week, West Virginia leaders were painting a picture of the rosy future that could await the coal industry, were it not for the Obama administration. Sprinkled among comments criticizing proposed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the state's elected officials made it sound like the good times could be just around the corner for the coalfields â if only the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would get out of the way.
Speaking to a coal industry rally in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cited projections he said showed "coal will be the world's leading source of energy" in 2035.
Testifying at an EPA public hearing in Washington, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., noted that coal is expected to continue to provide at least 31 percent of U.S. power through 2030, and that coal use by other countries, primarily China and India, is growing.
"Coal isn't going away around the world," Manchin told EPA officials.
However, what Tomblin, Manchin and other coal industry supporters weren't saying is that less and less of the coal that gets burned will come from the hills and hollows of Southern West Virginia.
Experts agree that coal in the state's southern counties remains in a long-term downward spiral, regardless of what the EPA does or doesn't do about global warming...
Here's Why:
Win over EPA won't save Southern W.Va. coal, experts say - See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140731/GZ01/140739830/1419#sthash.R7DdGZbe.dpuf by Ken Ward Jr., for the Charleston Gazette
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