Press
- Parent Category: News
Charleston, W.VA. ─ The West Virginia Coal Association is joining together with the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute to sponsor a special summer program for mining professionals on June 22-23, at the Marriott at Waterfront Place in Morgantown.
The program is intended for mining professionals to learn about developing technologies, mine safety and environmental programs and emerging threats and challenges facing the industry. United States Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito will join with West Virginia’s First Congressional Representative David McKinley and State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to headline the program. A variety of technical presentations are also slated for the two-day program.
- Parent Category: News
Calling on all Friends of Coal to “Stand Up and Be Counted”— Let our voices be heard!
As previously announced, the West Virginia Coal Association filed a petition to intervene in a case brought by American Electric Power (AEP) before the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) that is centered around the Mitchell Power Plant is Marshall County, West Virginia.
The issue is whether the Mitchell Plant should close twelve years ahead of schedule. If approved, this decision will prematurely eliminate hundreds of coal mining and plant worker jobs and tens of millions of dollars of economic activity that supports Northern West Virginia communities.
Read more: Help Your Coal Industry / File A Comment With WVPSC Today!
- Parent Category: News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. ─ Through the passage of various pieces of mining-related legislation, the West Virginia Legislature and Governor Justice showcased their support for coal miners and coal-fired power plant workers during the 2021 Legislative Session.
“We are so very grateful for the recognition displayed by the Legislature and Governor Justice of the importance of West Virginia’s coal economy,” said Chris Hamilton, President of the West Virginia Coal Association. “The mining and coal-fired power generation industries remain one of the largest economic generators in the state and state policy leaders recognized that fact through passage of Senate Bill 542, Senate Bill 718 and Senate Bill 677, among others.”
Read more: West Virginia Coal Association Applauds Legislature, Governor on Passage of Mining...
- Parent Category: News
A lot has happened in a relatively short period of time since President Biden was sworn into office last month.
The Keystone XL pipeline was stopped by Presidential Executive Order, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals struck down President Trump’s Affordable Clean Energy Plan and the country witnessed the collapse of Texas’s power system, comprised of a high percentage of wind, solar and natural gas, when extreme weather blanketed the Lone Star state.
Read more: Communicate Your Concerns: Stand up for West Virginia Coal!
- Parent Category: News
Dear Madame Vice President:
Congratulations on your election victory and thank you for your service to the United States.
We watched with interest your recent interview on WSAZ television, which covers central-southern West Virginia, in late January. During the interview you highlighted the President’s “American Rescue Plan” and its goal of defeating COVID-19, providing relief to families, lifting children out of poverty, and creating jobs. These are admirable and necessary goals, and we applaud the Administration’s pursuit of them.
During the interview you highlighted the Administration’s strategy for rebuilding our economy, which included transitioning coal miners to jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and transferring their unique skill set to jobs in clean energy.
- Parent Category: News
As the clock strikes midnight on the year 2020, we are hopeful that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is near, and we pray for the safety and health of all Americans.
While the pandemic and market forces contributed to record low coal production in 2020, the industry has experienced modest recovery over the past three and a half years under the Trump Administration.
The Administration, to include leadership in the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, has worked to place the industry on stable regulatory footing, protect the industry’s electric generation market share, and engaged in research and development of new technologies to extend the viability of this vital resource. As an industry, we are thankful for these efforts.
- Parent Category: News
- Parent Category: News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Coal Association is endorsing West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey for U.S. Senate in the 2018 General Election.
“Since he took office, General Morrisey has been a tireless advocate for West Virginia’s coal industry,” WVCA President Bill Raney said. “He fought for us against the Obama Administration, which was using every tool available to try and end coal mining in the United States. We know Patrick Morrisey will continue to fight for West Virginia coal as a member of the U.S. Senate, working in tandem with President Donald Trump.”
Raney said incumbent Sen. Joe Manchin also has been a longtime friend of coal, but Morrisey’s bold actions to protect the livelihoods of thousands of West Virginia coal miners deserves to be recognized.
“He not only waged legal battles against the previous administration on behalf of West Virginia’s coal industry, he corralled an incredibly impressive army of attorneys general in other states to protect mining and coal-fired electric power,” Raney said. “That action led to an unprecedented stay against Obama’s EPA and his so-called ‘Clean Power Plan’ at the U.S. Supreme Court, saving many coal miners’ jobs while the Trump Administration works to reissue a more balanced regulatory proposal.”
- Parent Category: News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Coal Association is praising President Donald Trump for issuing a new domestic energy plan that will replace the Obama-era “clean power plan” that would have decimated the American coal industry.
“The good news just keeps on coming from the Trump Administration,” WVCA President Bill Raney said. “And for this good news to come on a day when he will be visiting West Virginia makes it even more significant because our coalfields were ground zero for the Obama Administration’s war on coal. It will be an honor to be in Charleston tonight with President Trump when he announces his plans to replace the Obama “Costly Power Plan” with a true domestic energy policy that will protect American jobs.”
During Trump’s rally at the Charleston Civic Center tonight, the president is expected to highlight the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s replacement of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an Obama-era set of regulations that would have made it far more difficult, if not impossible, to use coal as a fuel source for electricity in the United States and put thousands of our coal miners out of work.
The EPA is replacing the CPP with a more reasonable set of regulations that still will aim to reduce carbon dioxide air emissions, relying on plant-by-plant evaluations to determine the best path forward for individual facilities to increase efficiency and lower emissions, rather than seizing control of the nation’s entire electric grid from the power plant to the wall plug.
“The coal industry has proven time and again that we are the best environmentalists out there,” Raney said. “U.S. coal plants have reduced toxic air emissions by more than 90 percent over the last few decades. We are committed to continuing to make improvements while protecting America’s domestic energy security and, most importantly, to keep our West Virginians working.”