The following guest editorial by Hal Quinn is scheduled to appear in the Oct. 27th edition of USA TODAY in response to the paper's editorial on mountaintop mining. - L. Popovich
Seeing the Full Picture of Mountaintop Mining
Hal Quinn, president and CEO, National Mining Association
There are several ways to see mountaintop mining in Appalachia, but critics see only one - it's the picture of big shovels extracting coal in rugged terrain. What they don't see are the 80,000-plus jobs in a half dozen states throughout Appalachia that are tied to surface coal mining.
West Virginia's economy depends on coal
I join in support of thousands of West Virginia residents requesting the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Obama Administration to approve the pending mine permits that have been put on hold. West Virginia's economy depends on coal. During this national recession, West Virginia needs to be producing coal in order to keep families working.
