GRUNDY, Va. — More than 5,500 people turned out Sunday
afternoon at a mountaintop park in remote Buchanan County to show
their support for coal.
With the “War on Coal” rhetoric that’s been on a lot of
Republicans’ lips this election season, a lineup of political
speakers that included Matt Romney, son of Presidential hopeful
Mitt Romney, came to talk about the resource that powers both the
electricity and the economy here.
“Right now our country is in dire straits,” Matt Romney said,
promising that his father, if elected, would make the nation energy
independent by 2020. “We can’t ignore the vast natural resources we
have in this country: coal, natural gas, oil.”
In coal country, the issue is complex. On one hand, the
Appalachian coal industry has been steadily losing jobs in recent
decades, due in part to mechanization and declining reserves. On
the other hand, new policies implemented by the Obama
administration have had a painful, immediate impact.
It was clear in the mood of the crowd Sunday. Some talked about
how thousands of recent coal industry layoffs have impacted their
families and communities; others said they go to work every day
wondering if they will still have a job when they get there.
“The only promise Obama kept was to kill coal,” said Jerry
Shortt, a coal miner from Richlands who was laid off temporarily
right after Labor Day — and learned Friday that for him, along
with 189 other employees at the mine where he worked, the layoff
would be permanent.
“You see all these people? I bet you a quarter of them’s laid
off,” he said. “I know a lot of people that did [vote for Obama]
that are not going to next time. Hope turned into damnation.”
THE WAR THAT COAL MINERS and companies perceive is one being
fought on several fronts, said Barbara Altizer, executive director
of the Eastern Coal Council, one of five industry-funded groups
that sponsored Sunday’s rally.
“They come at us on the air side. They come after us on the
water side. They’ve stopped the permits, so that’s like starving
us. And EPA has started… allowing various anti-coal groups to run
things into the ground.”
On the air emissions side, two new sets of EPA rules have cut
both the present and future use of coal.
First, new air emissions standards prompted utilities to
announce the closure of dozens of coal-fired power plants, cutting
the demand for coal and costing jobs. In some cases, utilities
chose to convert those units to natural gas, which because of new
technology for extraction has become relatively cheap and
plentiful. Rules for coal-fired boilers have also affected
factories and other facilities that use industrial boilers.
Second, a new proposed EPA rule would require any new coal-fired
power plants to be constructed with technology to control carbon
dioxide emissions — technology that’s not been fully developed.
With this proposal, even state-of-the-art coal burning technology,
like that being used at the new power plant that just opened in
nearby Wise County, couldn’t be permitted, utility officials have
said.
On the water pollution side, coal mines are now subject to new
restrictions in obtaining the permits needed from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. Targeted specifically at mountaintop mines in
Appalachia, according to industry supporters, the change
effectively prohibits modern surface mining and has also created
significant problems for deep mining.
At the same time, hundreds of mining permits have been suspended
in limbo for the years of the Obama administration, with the
federal agencies in charge of processing these permits choosing to
simply take no action.
At mines that are presently operating, miners say federal safety
inspectors have also increased their efforts, going to great
lengths to find “nit-picky” violations for which they can charge
thousands of dollars in fines.
And then there is the Spruce No. 1 Mine, a surface mining
project in West Virginia that was permitted after a decade-long
process of environmental review — and, last year, had its permit
revoked by EPA. The case, which is viewed by many as a test case
for what could happen to the rest of the industry, is now working
its way through the court system.
NINETY-ONE-YEAR OLD Emory Altizer, introduced as America’s
oldest working coal miner, told the crowd at the rally that when it
comes to coal and energy, the nation is at a crossroads. “Of all
the presidents and all the administrations I’ve ever seen, this is
the first one that’s declared war on coal,” he said. “We have to
get rid of that.”
Obama won Virginia four years ago, the first Democrat to carry
the state since 1964, but the latest polls indicate the Old
Dominion is shifting back toward the GOP. In the past three weeks,
Romney has gained 3.7 points in the
Real Clear Politics average of Virginia polls — now a 48-48
tie — and led Obama by three points in the most recent
Rasmussen survey of Virginia.
The numbers in the Senate race aren’t quite as encouraging for
George Allen (Democrat Tim Kaine
leads by 2.2 points in the RCP average), whose wife stumped for
him at Sunday’s rally. But if the Republicans maintain their
current momentum, it could help Allen return to the Senate.
Sunday’s “Rally for American Coal Jobs” was held at Poplar Gap
Park, a park with a series of playground pieces, an entertainment
stage, and an open area. The park was built on a mountaintop
flattened by mining, and sits close to an even larger mountaintop
site where housing, roads, and a new business park are under
construction. A planned airport expansion project has been stalled
for years as local officials battle with federal regulators, a
story that appeared recently in the
Washington Times.
In Buchanan County, where the mountainous topography has long
impeded development, the local government is pinning its economic
development hopes on the ability to transform the landscape through
mining.
“It’s so steep that people can’t pay [for the site work] to put
a house on it,” explained Arlie Collier, the mine superintendent
who oversaw the Poplar Gap and Southern Gap projects. “Once it’s
mined, it’s usable land.”
Edward Finney, a coal miner from Princeton, W.Va., said the
government, if anything, should be standing behind the coal
industry and helping to make it better.
“A lot of people that are not from this area and don’t know
coal, they don’t understand what all coal does for this country,”
said Finney, who brought his wife and children to Sunday’s rally.
“Look at your cities, at your skyscrapers, your automobiles.
Anything that’s made with steel, coal has been used to make that
steel.”
Will Morefield, who represents the area in the Virginia House of
Delegates, called on the crowd to vote in November for leaders who
will support coal. “I’m here to tell you that Yes We Can,” he said.
“Yes We Can correct our mistakes on Election Day.”
