COAL REPORT April 8, 2008

Massey Energy’s Don Blankenship is in the center of controversy again. ABC News says that Blankenship attacked a news producer and threatened to shoot him. Blankenship tells a different story. According to the Associated Press, a producer was trying to interview Blankenship for a news story when the confrontation erupted. According to the network, Blankenship said, “If you’re going to start taking pictures of me, you’re liable to get shot.” He then allegedly grabbed the producer’s camera, snapped off a microphone, and tore the man’s shirt collar. Blankenship said the producer had followed him into a parking lot, got out, and trained a camera on him. Then, Blankenship said, “I don’t know for sure what happened.” He did not deny threatening to shoot the man. “I probably did. I didn’t say I would bother him.” We may know for sure later in the week. ABC says it plans to air the footage.

Consol has resumed production at the big Buchanan No. 1 Mine at Mavisdale, Virginia, reports the Virginia Mountaineer. The mine was out of production for eight months following major roof collapses. The resumption of mining also means the beginning of a controversial dumping of mine waste water into the Big Sandy. The company will pump untreated water out of the mine and into the river. As the river is an important source of drinking water, the plan had drawn wide opposition both in Buchanan County and downstream in Pike County. According to the Appalachian News-Express, Virginia says it will monitor the discharge and stop if pollution gets too high. Other Virginia water users are making their own tests. Kentucky officials said last week that they too will regularly monitor the water in the river, both at the state line and at Fishtrap Lake.

Martin County Coal plans to open two mines in a few months, according to the Big Sandy News. The new deep mines will be in the Evans Hill area of Emily Creek and the Meathouse Road area of Wolf Creek. A company spokesman said the Massey subsidiary expects to be hiring 70 to 80 people for the mines. The Big Sandy News says there are now 24 active mining operations in Floyd, Johnson, and Martin Counties, compared with 106 ten years ago. Bill Caylor of the Kentucky Coal Association told the paper that eastern Kentucky coal operators have to go deeper and mine thinner seams, “We are depleting the easy-to-get part, but there is still plenty of coal left. Since 1990, we’ve lost one-third of our production, and that will continue to decline by an average of one percent or less.”

An official of the United Mine Workers says the union would not necessarily oppose a ban on mountaintop removal mining as a long-term goal for the Appalachian region. The Charleston Gazette reports that Phil Smith, the union’s communication director, made the comment during a panel discussion at the recent Appalachian Studies conference in Huntington, West Virginia. Historically the union’s position on strip mining has been mixed. Strip mining has meant far fewer mining jobs, as deep mining is much more labor intensive. As stripping got started in the days of John L. Lewis, he opposed it. Later union leaders called for regulations to be strictly enforced but stopped short of calling for abolition. Recently the UMW has supported surface mining in cases where union jobs were threatened, and remained silent where the workers are nonunion. There are more of the latter—the Gazette reports that as of 2006 only seven of West Virginia’s 94 active strip jobs were unionized, while UMW members produced nearly half the state’s deep mined coal.

50 angry truck drivers and their supporters drove their rigs to Charleston Friday for a protest over high fuel prices. The Charleston Gazette quoted one small truck operator saying, “It’s over for making money. The small guy just isn’t getting any fuel surcharges.” The group met by phone with Governor Manchin, who promised to go to Washington to look for relief. One suggestion, from Congressional candidate Richie Robb, was a freeze on gas prices or an excess profit tax on the oil industry. Manchin said he would ask for release of oil from the country’s strategic oil reserve, though he pointed out that this is only a short-term fix. As of Friday, diesel in West Virginia was going for $4.14 a gallon.