West Virginia Blue
The Best Blogging Community in West Virginia Democratic politics, progressive policies, the good life and free living in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia.
(Reposted in case you missed it the first time. - promoted by Clem Guttata)
By Clem Guttata
Coal CEOs get political representation, what about the rest of us?
Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll requested a meeting and he got it. Michael Browning reported (emphasis mine):
Kirkendoll has asked Gov. Joe Manchin for a meeting with him, commission presidents from Lincoln, Boone, Mingo and Kanawha counties, the EPA, the Division of Environmental Protection, Congressman Nick Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, representatives from U.S. senators Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller's offices and officials from the coal industry.
Today at 3 p.m., the group will meet privately in the governor's office to discuss coal's future and the economic impact it has on the state and nation.
"This meeting was way overdue to have all the major coal producers' officials together with the EPA and the DEP, the congressional people and the commission presidents from the five major coal-producing counties that spend the money and try to create activities on coal tax," Kirkendoll said. "Everybody that has a stake in what we do will be there. Instead of each of us writing letters, I wanted to get us all together - the people who are investing their money, who are spending the money, the people who are making laws and making the rules - so that we can ask how do we a qualify permits that are solid and work. I sent the governor a letter and he thought it was a great idea so he put the meeting together."
Kirkendoll doesn't think anyone downstream has a stake in coal mining. He doesn't think it matters that we drink the same water, breath the same air, or--point of fact--actually pay for the electricity that makes that coal valuable.
...the list of expected attendees includes Massey Energy President Don Blankenship, CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey and International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield. Two members of Congress will be there, as will county commissioners from the state's major coal producing counties, and top officials from a dozen or more other coal companies. It's a big deal to get all those folks in the same room, and it seems like the public ought to know what is said.
With enough twists to fill a pretzel factor, Gov. Manchin and his communications director, Matt Turner, said there was no need to invite potential critics of coal mining practices because:
"the meeting is not about environmental regulations." (AP - via)
"This is not about the environment. This is about the economic plight the (coalfield local government officials) are being put in." (source)
The meeting happened this afternoon outside the Governor's Mansion in a party tent literally bought and paid for by coal industry donors, (I kid you not... you couldn't make this stuff up) and was followed by a press conference.
Nov. 10, 2009 - CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Gov. Joe Manchin, joined by West Virginia elected officials: U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Speaker Rick Thompson and various other state leaders, county commissioners, representatives from the coal industry and labor met to discuss the future of coal in West Virginia during a press conference. Photos by: Steven W. Rotsch
West Virginia political leaders promised Tuesday to speak "with one voice" to clarify the Obama administration's proposals to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal coal mining.
Gov. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and Reps. Nick J. Rahall and Shelley Moore Capito said they would join forces to seek a high-level White House meeting to raise coal industry concerns about tougher permit reviews instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"It's about the economy of West Virginia," Manchin said at a news conference after a two-hour, closed-door meeting with industry leaders. "We're just trying to find that balance right now."
I'd like someone to ask Gov. Manchin what it is that he's trying to "balance"? As far as I can tell, "balance" is his code word for stopping any tighter environmental regulation enforcement.
Coal company CEOs have been guaranteed a voice in Washington. The Gov. of West Virginia, Sen. Rockefeller, Rep. Rahall and Rep. Capito stood at a podium this afternoon and promised to speak "with one voice" in Washington, DC on their behalf.
The citizens of West Virginia did not elect these officials to represent coal company executives, they serve to represent us all.
What is good for Don Blankenship is not what is good for all of West Virginia. What is good for CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey is not what is good for all of West Virginia (just ask the residents of the Dunkard Creek watershed). What is good for International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield is not what is good for all of West Virginia.
We need political leaders who will lead for all West Virginians, not political followers catering to the needs of coal company CEOs. We need political leaders who will ask not what they can do for coal, but what they can do for West Virginia. We need political leaders who can honor both our heritage and our future.
Coal issues are very relevant and important to me. It is a very important resource for West Virginia, but not our only means of making money. It has become less of a resource, more of an industry, and even more a political mechanism.
Coal now has a stranglehold on the state's economy and the fatcat coal barons (i.e. Don Blankenship among others) have been padding the pockets the legislature and judicial board for years now.
(If you need reference, look into how much money Blankenship donated to finance Brent Benjamin's campaign against McGraw on the court a few years back)
Pollution from Coal slurries in West Virginia has been a major problem, as well as the environmental effects of MountainTop Removal Mining across the state
Surface Mining has been a major issue across the state and now, a hearing before a chamber of judges will attempt to go over the environmental issues of Selenium deposits from the surface mines
This afternoon in federal court in Huntington, lawyers, scientists and economists will debate deformed fish, water pollution treatment systems and compliance costs ... It's the first day of what is expected to be a week-long hearing that amounts to a major showdown over selenium discharges by surface coal mines in Appalachia.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers will be hearing testimony and legal arguments in a combined series of cases in which environmental groups - the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club - are trying to force subsidiaries of Patriot Coal to comply with existing pollution limits for selenium.
Source: Coal tattoo
As mentioned in the rest of the article on Coal Tattoo, Selenium deposits poison fish and cause deformities and other problems with the wildlife, This is only fish..
Coal is huge in West Virginia, but we need to diversify our economy.
These Pictures were taken by me when I ventured down to the Southern part of the state last week. The train cars were numbered in the hundreds stretching for no doubt miles. We need Green Jobs in West Virginia and the United States. Where is coal getting us? I don't disagree that it is crucial to our state's economy and the balance of jobs in West Virginia, but the trouble it brings is becoming more known.
With the Selenium deposits causing much trouble in the waters of the state, and coal slurries getting into the drinking water of residents who live near them... something must be done.
West Virginia is ranked 43rd in measures of overall child welfare, according to the 21st annual National KIDS COUNT Data Book put out by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
West Virginia ranks 43rd in the nation overall in child well-being and in the bottom 10 states on four of the 10 indicators, including the percent of low-birthweight babies (46th), children living without secure parental employment (45th), children in poverty (43rd) and the child death rate (42nd). There was some good news for children in West Virginia: The state has improved on four of the 10 measures affecting child well-being since 2000 (infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate and percent of children in poverty). However, in two measures (percent low-birthweight babies and percent of children in single parent families), conditions for West Virginia children have worsened; in two others(teen birth rate and percent of teens not in school and not high school graduates), conditions have remained unchanged; and two of the indicators are not comparable to previous years.
When you look at the maps at the county level, it is not surprising that the counties where King Coal rules strongest are also where children fare badly in overall well-being. King Coal isn't good at raising children.
Like many others, I've been thinking a lot this past week about what Sen. Robert Byrd has meant to me and, additionally, how to mark his passing. This morning I want to celebrate the legacy of Sen. Byrd I most hope will live on. I originally posted this diary on Oct 21, 2009. Sen. Byrd went further in Dec. 2009 in speaking forcefully about the benefits and costs of coal to West Virginia. This is but one of many topics that Sen. Byrd showed great courage in provided brave leadership on.
Big Daddy is gone. It's up to us now. Let's make him proud.
What most casual observers of Congress know about Senator Robert C. Byrd is he's the longest-serving member in the Senate's history and he's been incredibly successful at steering federal dollars to West Virginia.
(Political Science Professor) Rupp remembers a quote from former Democratic House speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, that Byrd posted in his office near the Senate Appropriations Committee Room inside the Capitol. It said: "Bob is a living encyclopedia, and legislative graveyards are filled with the bones of those who underestimated him."
Time and time again, Sen. Byrd has delivered for West Virginia. The question of the moment is, what does Byrd think West Virginia needs in the next energy and climate bill?
This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows how resource extraction leaves behind terrible costs and why West Virginia is a national sacrifice zone.
A new report details how expensive King Coal's reign of destruction is on the state.
A new report analyzing West Virginia's coal-related income and expenses concludes that the industry actually costs the state.
The report was issued by Downstream Strategies-a Morgantown-based environmental consulting firm-and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. After taking nearly all of coal's direct and indirect costs and benefits to state coffers into account, it concludes that the industry cost the state more than $97 million in fiscal year 2009.
snip
The report looks at many of the industry's direct and indirect impacts on the state. There are coal severance taxes, as well as the taxes paid by the more than 21,000 West Virginians who were employed by the industry in 2009. There are also expenses, like the state government jobs that wouldn't exist without the coal industry, repairing roads damaged by coal trucks and the tax breaks the industry gets. The report also takes into account the jobs that are indirectly created by the coal industry.
Even so, the report shows the industry is costing West Virginia. Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch outlines some of the industry's costs that weren't considered.
"The individual citizen whose health is damaged and who have to pay medical bills does not go into the report," he said. "The cost of individual citizens having to provide their own drinking water does not go into the report. So in many ways, many of the costs are not being reflected in this report that our state needs to look closely at all of the costs associated with this industry."
The coal industry socializes the expenses and privatizes the profits in this state.
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today suspended the use of a fast-track nationwide permit, Nationwide Permit 21, for mountaintop removal mining operations in the six states of the Appalachian region.
Now, proposed surface coal mining projects that involve discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States will have to go through the individual permit process to obtain Department of the Army authorization under the Clean Water Act.
The individual permit evaluation procedure provides increased public involvement in the permit evaluation process, including an opportunity for public comment on individual projects.
Nationwide Permit 21 is used to authorize discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities.
Score one for the environmentalists.
This was the issue at the center of the hearing in which Massey's bussed-in mobs tried to block MTR opponents last October.
Ken Ward Jr. atCoal Tattoo does a good job debunking and explaining Massey's latest spin in its PR campaign efforts at misdirection and misinformation.
While the bigger media new to the story is falling for it, Ward with his years of experiencing covering coal mining and Massey is able to provide context the Wall Street Journal and Reuters miss.
Now, the MSHA report that Massey posted online contains only a brief mention of degasification wells, and basically writes the whole idea off:
Experience suggests that locating and degassing floor methane zones through a drilling program was highly problematic.
But for some reason, Massey didn't post online this earlier MSHA report, dated March 4, which outlined steps that company had said it planned to take to deal with the methane outburst problem:
Mine personnel reported that in the subsequent longwall panel, degasification wells will be developed into the Lower Eagle seam in an attempt to decrease the potential for future outbursts. This appears to be a reasonable plan.
So did Massey do that? That's one thing investigators are looking into ... but not something that you'd know about if you read Massey's press releases or the media coverage generated by the company's PR campaign.
MSHA doesn't help itself in all of this. The agency has yet to explain how a former acting district manager who was involved in investigating the 2003 and 2004 incidents at Upper Big Branch could have ended up on the MSHA "internal review" team that is examining the agency's performance at the mine prior to the disaster.
Ward again calls for public hearings to shine some light on the investigation.
Of course, one way to deal with this problem of "selective release of information" by Massey would be for MSHA to reverse itself and begin conducting the entire investigation out in the open. If this happened, any spurious allegations by Massey could be defused with truth from witness testimony, and MSHA officials could provide context that ensures the media coverage is accurate and balanced. Or, at the very least, MSHA could come out of hiding and conduct periodic public and media briefings to answer questions about these issues.
This post from Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers and by Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America, is well worth reading in its entirety:
But in the midst of the Great Recession caused by Wall Street recklessness, America has repeatedly delayed renewal of unemployment benefits and now is terminating federal health insurance support for the furloughed middle class.
Middle class workers are the ones who die in coal mines and on oil rigs.
Afterwards, CEOs say anything to save the bottom line - the one that will determine their bonuses.
Discussing the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, Massey CEO Don Blankenship told stock analysts in a conference call late in April:
"Some of the implications have been that we don't focus on safety or we put dollars in front of safety and nothing could be further from the truth."
Though the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued 1,342 safety violation notices to Upper Big Branch over the past five years, Blankenship explained that's just life in the coal business:
"Violations are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process."
Despite the fact Blankenship claims safety violations are a "normal part of the mining process" he is now trying to shift blame on to federal regulators.
Sadly, the lack of outrage over MTR may boil down to images and quick definitions. It's easy to turn the spill into a quick sound bite (Oil is pumping into the ocean) and not so easy to do the same with MTR, which is a much more complicated issue; for one thing, it's hard to convince people that to be against MTR does not mean one is against miners. Most of the MTR opponents count miners as one of the reasons they're in this fight to begin with.
And there is that dramatic, sickening image that is easily captured (the oil pumping into the ocean) and put on the morning news shows. A camera can't quite capture the scope of MTR. Even seeing it in person can't really do it justice. The only way one can truly take in the devastation is to do a fly-over, so the sheer magnitude of it can be realized. Which is another reason why Obama should do a fly-over of Appalachia, the same way he's done in the Gulf.
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo asks an interesting question in how the investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion is public, but the investigation into the Upper Big Branch disaster is behind closed doors.
So why can the Obama administration do this for an oil industry catastrophe and not for a coal-mining disaster?
The cynical part of me thinks it's because the nation has for decades seen West Virginia as a national sacrifice zone and they don't want to know what happens here.
The EPA announced in March its proposal to revoke the mountaintop removal (MTR) permit for Spruce No.1 unless the mine, operated by St. Louis-based Arch Coal, was modified to reduce its environmental impact. According to the EPA's website, "we are concerned that the project could result in unacceptable damage to the aquatic system, particularly to water quality and fish and wildlife resources." The agency said the environmental damage would be irreversible.
"We're looking at this as a test of whether EPA will stand behind what they've been saying," said West Virginia Sierra Club organizer Bill Price, below. "The coal industry has been unable to prove it can do this type of mining without extreme impacts on the environment and the communities nearby."
snip
"The EPA is here not about our poverty, not about our political corruption, not about our jobs, not about the loss of our jobs, and it's not about shutting you down," said farmer and native West Virginian Sara Cowgill, below. "It's about the reality of the vital importance of clean water. And there is no question whatsoever that MTR mining is environmentally devastating and catastrophic to every community that it touches, extending into the entire state."
You can either be for destroying West Virginia one mountain at a time or you can be for West Virginia.
We can look at the ongoing mega-disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and no one has a solution how to stop it.
Yet too many in West Virginia, including politicians we support for their stance on many other issues like U.S. Rep.Nick Rahall Jr., are in favor of mountaintop removal.
The first speaker at the May 19 hearing in Charleston was West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall. "Pursuing this course would have a chilling effect on the coal industry and the Appalachian region," he said. "It will send a message that investing in coal mining is nothing but a high-risk bet."
There should be a chilling effect on the ongoing environmental disaster that is mountaintop removal.
Because BP's oil spill is ongoing in public view (despite efforts by BP's CEO to limit coverage), people see the environmental disaster.
But the destruction of West Virginia has been permitted for decades and the devastation extends beyond the mountains and into the valleys and the water systems.
Just as deep water drilling is now shown that it is as dangerous as environmentalists warned, environmentalists are sounding the alarm bells on mountaintop removal.
We are poisoning our wells through this practice. We are destroying our state. The mountains are not going to grow back. They are gone forever.
BECKLEY - Miners and families from the Upper Big Branch Mine on Monday described the Massey Energy operation as "a ticking time bomb," where safety problems were ignored and workers feared losing their jobs if they complained.
"I felt like I was working for the Gestapo at times," said continuous miner operator Stanley Stewart, who was on his way into Upper Big Branch when the April 5 explosion occurred.
snip
Stewart was among the witnesses this morning in Beckley at a field hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor, which is investigating mine safety problems and the death of 29 workers at Upper Big Branch.
Much of the testimony is damning.
Gary Quarles, the father of fallen miner Gary Wayne Quarles, said he has also worked at Massey mines and that the company routinely fixes safety problems only when workers underground are tipped off ahead of time that federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors are on their way.
"MSHA inspections at Massey did little to protect miners," Quarles said. "We absolutely looked to MSHA for leadership, particularly on safety issues, but MSHA has let us down many times."
Its been over a month since the Upper Big Branch Mine, a Massey Energy owned and operated mine, faced a disaster due to a methane related explosion that took 29 miners lives. It was a dark day for the state of West Virginia, the coal industry, and the entire country. To West Virginians, and even those not from the state, these fallen miners will be in our hearts forever.
Don Blankenship is the current Chairman, CEO, and head right-wing gun-toting thug in charge of Massey Energy. Massey is currently the 6th largest coal company in the United States by production. Blankenship, to most people, is seen as cold, dark, and very mysterious. If you need further convincing, watch this ABC News video of one of their correspondents attempting to evoke an interview from Blankenship. The video shows the ABC News rep wanting to ask Blankenship about pictures published in the New York Times of him with Former WV State Supreme Court Judge and Current Republican nominee for WV 3rd Congressional District Eliot "Spike" Maynard. Maynard was elected to the Supreme Court in WV.
Several news outlets have begun to report that Don Blankenship will testify this Thursday before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee regarding the April 5, 2010 mine explosion in Raleigh County, West Virginia .
Mine blast: Don Blankenship, the head of Massey Energy Co., testifies before a Senate panel investigating the explosion that killed 29 workers at his company's coal mine in West Virginia.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle's SF Gate
Blankenship, 60, plans to appear before the Labor and Health and Human Services subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on May 20 in Washington, his first appearance before Congress since the explosion.
Massey said last month that it expects a second-quarter charge of as much as $212 million for the accident, more than twice its 2009 earnings.
The costs will include $80 million to $150 million for benefits for families of the miners, rescue and recovery efforts, insurance deductibles, legal and other contingencies, Massey said. The value of the damaged equipment, development and mineral rights is an additional $62 million.
Source: Businessweek.com
With the pieces still being picked up in rural West Virginia, Blankenship has a slew of problems on his hands. Massey Energy has seen its stock slump since the disaster (big shocker there) and he is constantly being questioned about the incident and his lack of care for safety violations and hazardous working conditions. It has seen a -21.7% change YTD with their stocks recently plummeting 10% after a possibility of a criminal investigation was mentioned, and 40% since the disaster.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Shares of Massey Energy plunged about 10% Monday after a report surfaced over the weekend indicated the coal mining company may face a criminal investigation.
Federal prosecutors are investigating possible "willful criminal activity" by "directors, officers and agents" of Massey subsidiary Performance Coal at the Upper Big Branch coal mine where an explosion killed 29 workers last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
A Bloomberg report on Monday claimed that some large Massey shareholders will seek to block the re-election of three company board members at the meeting.
Another report by the Wall Street Journal on Monday said a congressional committee will vote on Wednesday on whether to give the House Education and Labor Committee deposition power to call witnesses in for questioning on the case.
Massey shares have fallen about 40% since the mine explosion on April 5.
Source: CNN Money
More interesting news for Massey Energy, in what seems to be an effort to obtain transparency in lieu of shady business, as they have now declared that they will declassify their board of directors. This according to the Wall Street Journal, the board is proposing to introduce the idea to shareholders etc. and potentially even make the process more democratic.
Massey Energy Co. said its board plans to propose that directors stand for election every year for one-year terms.
Chairman and Chief Executive Don Blankenship and lead independent director Admiral Bobby R. Inman said the move to declassify the board of the coal producer was a result of stockholder input and the board's ongoing review of Massey's corporate governance policies.
A classified board, where classes of directors generally are elected for three-year terms and only a portion of the directors stands for election each year, is harder to dislodge through the shareholder meeting process.
The board plans to hold a special shareholder meeting in the next three to six months where it will propose that stockholders approve declassification.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Blankenship has seen his fair share of controversy, as I have detailed in several previous blogs in wake of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, and this proves there isn't an end in sight. Blankenship, amidst numerous calls to step down and many claims of injustice and fraud, refuses to forgo his position as CEO of Massey. Its hard to tell whether this is simply Blanky trying to play a game and manipulate his business further, saving his butt from criminal allegations, or just plain stubbornness. My personal opinion? He needs to step down. Futher even, he needs to be criminally indicted. Too often, CEO fat cats like Blank are left alone to ravage whatever gets in their way in the holy name of money.
Massey Energy chief executive Don Blankenship, whose Richmond-based company is under investigation after a deadly explosion at its Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia, said he has no plans to resign.
"Whatever happened at UBB is something that needs to be figured out, but it's not the result of my management style," Blankenship, 60, said in an interview.
From The Washington Post, as reported by Bloomberg
An end is not in sight for this ongoing Blankenship conundrum, which can be seen as good news and bad news. I want resolution. I hope that one day this man will receive the proper justice brought to him, not on a silver platter, but closer to a penitentiary meal tray.
He doesn't represent the values and culture of Appalachia, he represents the coal industry and corporate greed. I for one will not stand for this. The question still remains, will the people of Congress and those in higher powers finally grow a pair and do something about corrupt and greedy tycoons like Blankenship? Or will they let this case slither away like a cunning snake, deep into the elusive tall grass it will await yet another prey who is unbeknownst to their presence.
Copyright 2009 West Virginia Blue
Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified.
This site exists thanks to financial support from BlogPAC, the tireless efforts of volunteer contributors and continued participation from this community. The views expressed at West Virginia Blue belong soley to their respective authors.
