Press
- Parent Category: News
"We appreciate the West Virginia Republican Party and all the state representatives that attended the convention and proudly wore these hardhats to pay tribute to our state’s foundational industry and hard working miners,” said Chris Hamilton, President of the West Virginia Coal Association.
“Millions of Americans who watched the convention likely saw the red, white, and blue hard hats which symbolize the strength and resilience of our citizenry during cut-away shots of the crowd and in various media reports.
The West Virginia Coal Association is proud to support our delegation and wholeheartedly and enthusiastically approve of the vote they cast for Donald J. Trump for President”.
- Parent Category: News
Charleston, W.Va.– The West Virginia Coal Association in partnership with America’s Coal Associations announce the launch of the “Friends of Coal” app, an interactive and educational portal designed to equip users with a direct link to current information and issues impacting West Virginia’s and our nation’s coal industry.
The app is available for download on Android and Apple products at the following links:
Read more: West Virginia Coal Association Launches “Friends of Coal” App
- Parent Category: News
West Virginia football will debut a black alternate uniform for the 2024 season that's designed to pay homage to the state's rich coal tradition and honor miners who work underground daily to supply energy around the world. After the unveiling of new blue, gold and white uniforms at the annual Gold-Blue Spring game, the black alternate unform serves as an additional uniform set for the Mountaineers to showcase on select occasions. The ideas and designs for the black alternate uniform came from a day spent with actual miners.
- Parent Category: News
Chris Hamilton, President and CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association offered the following statement regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement today of a final rule affecting carbon emissions from coal-fired electricity facilities:
“Make no mistake, the rules announced by EPA today are specifically designed to shut down West Virginia’s nine (9) coal-fired power plants and many more across this nation. This is a continuation and escalation of the national Democratic Party’s decades-long War on Coal and threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of miners and power plant workers across West Virginia.
Despite numerous recent announcements from regional grid operators, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, National Electric Reliability Commission and energy experts forecasting that the amount of planned electric generation retirements exceed the amount of potential new generation able to be brought online, the EPA recklessly continues to march America off a cliff.
What EPA is doing is economic suicide. West Virginians will lose jobs. Americans will continue to pay increasingly more expensive power bills. Our state and national electric systems will become even more unreliable as the grid weakens and base load power supplies are severely reduced. And just as West Virginia will likely import its future energy, America’s energy security will become more dependent on foreign countries and potentially foreign adversaries.
A diverse energy mix that is supported by coal-powered plants, not in place of them, is crucial to ensuring all Americans can afford to keep their homes heated and lit. Until we recognize the need for an energy policy reset, we can expect our energy situation to remain unstable and potentially poised to fail us when we need it most.”
For additional information, contact Chris Hamilton at (304) 342-4153.
- Parent Category: News
Featuring local, state, and federal officials as well as industry experts, the West Virginia Coal Association will host the 50th Annual West Virginia Mining Symposium March 26-27 at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center in Charleston, West Virginia.
Chris Hamilton, President and Chief Executive Officer of the West Virginia Coal Association, said, “The Symposium draws wide participation from all sectors of the mining industry and provides an opportunity for the industry to discuss current domestic and international marketing and production trends, while showcasing new mining and mine safety technologies.”
- Parent Category: News
The West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame, a joint initiative between the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute and the West Virginia Coal Association and housed at the WVU Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources in Morgantown, will induct its newest class of honorees at a ceremony March 26, at the Charleston Coliseum and Conference Center in Charleston WV
This year’s honorees include Walt Scheller, CEO Warrior Met, Nick Carter, Retired President/CEO, Natural Resource Partners, Doug Conaway, Senior Vice President of Safety, ARCH Resources Inc., and Todd Moore, Vice President of Safety, Consol Energy.
Read more: West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame Inducts 26th Class of Honorees
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Discover your next adventure or career in West Virginia.
- Parent Category: News
By: Chris Hamilton President & CEO
West Virginia Coal Association
Recent news stories across the state have reported on a tentative agreement advanced by several parties to a typical public electric utility rate case, whereby the utility petitions the Public Service Commission to recover partial costs the utility incurred to keep West Virginia’s lights on. Some suggest that the agreement and others like it are not in the best interest of the public.
West Virginia has always enjoyed extremely low-cost and reliable energy primarily due to our modem coal-fired electric manufacturing facilities and nearby high quality, clean burning coal reserves. It’s been our natural advantage and continues to be the best deal around as evidenced by all the new investment by large industrial power consumers (e.g., Nucor, Omnis Energy, Fidelis New Energy, and many others) that chose West Virginia for our competitive costs of energy and other reasons.
Read more: Coal-fired Electric Generation Offers Low-Cost, Reliable Power to West Virginia
- Parent Category: News
By: Chris Hamilton
President & CEO West Virginia Coal Association
In a November 29 column, MetroNews Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval highlights new research that shows that “the idea that a laid off roof bolter can get a new job making solar panels or installing wind turbines is largely an unfulfilled promise”.
He’s referring to the promises made by the Biden Administration, liberal leaders, and environmental extremists that workers in carbon intensive industries can find work in the Green Energy fields of wind and solar. According to the research, “the transition rate is even lower in our state. The New York Times reported that the study showed that ‘Less than a quarter of a percent of workers who left a fossil fuel job in West Virginia moved on to a job in renewable energy’.”
Read more: OP ED: Energy Transition Promises Largely Unfulfilled