Uncatorgorized
W.Va. will suffer with Byrd stepping down from chairmanship. Everyone wanted to paint a happy face on it and
the official announcement came in the form of a statement from U.S. Sen. Robert
C. Byrd that he was stepping aside as the chairman of the powerful Senate
Appropriations Committee.
Lawyers clash during opening arguments. Massey Energy neglected to repair a failing conveyor belt system and did not replace a crucial ventilation wall prior to a January 2006 fire that killed two miners, a Logan County jury was told Monday.
Massey President Don Blankenship is personally to
blame for the deaths because he emphasized increasing coal production over
proper safety precautions, a lawyer for the two miners' widows also told
jurors.
Mountaintop removal must reduce damage, reports
say. Coal operators must greatly reduce the damage
mountaintop removal strip mining does to West Virginia's mountains, streams and
coalfield communities, members of a gubernatorial task force have concluded.
A new poll released by the coal industry shows that West Virginians are touting coal as the biggest economic engine for the state.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents believe the coal industry is the top contributor to the West Virginia economy, while 59 percent said it was the biggest contributor to their local economy, according to a survey of 601 residents by Charleston-based Mark Blankenship Enterprises.