Photo by Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
The first time I went there, it was called the Red Warrior Mine, named for the Cabin Creek community where it was located. That was 15 years ago, April 1994. Then-owner Arch Mineral Corp. was still assembling the dragline shovel it brought in from a mine in Illinois.
At nearly 2,300 acres, the Red Warrior permit was easily the biggest strip-mining permit ever issued by West Virginia regulators. In 1994, Arch renamed the operation the Samples Mine, after company Chairman Ronald Eugene Samples. Samples had been instrumental in Arch Coal buying the property from Lewisburg coal operator Lawson Hamilton in 1989.
(Interestingly, St. Louis-based Patriot Coal has apparently been trying to change the name of the complex to Paint Creek. It doesn’t seem to have caught on, as even the WARN notice sent out about the closure called it the Samples Mine).
Since that first permit, the operating company Catenary Coal has received permits for more than 10,000 more acres in the area. Just about two weeks ago, WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman approved the latest permit, a 276-acre one called the “N-Extension.”
As much as any mining operation in Appalachia, the Samples Mine has been at the center of the debate over mountaintop removal. In large part, that’s because parts of it are visible from a public road far up Cabin Creek and from Larry Gibson’s family cemetery at Kayford. Photos from Larry’s place have appeared in news media around the world (including the masthead of Coal Tattoo).
Now, as first reported in this morning’s Charleston Gazette, the mine’s current owner, Patriot Coal Corp., is shutting down — at least for now. Note that Patriot Chief Executive Officer Richard Whiting explained the move this way:
As we continue to balance our production levels with the soft thermal coal demand, our strategy is to concentrate production at lower-cost mining complexes. By ceasing operations at this higher-cost surface mine, Patriot will keep valuable permitted reserves in the ground until the market yields more favorable pricing and margins.
The Patriot move is the latest in a line of coal company moves to cut production, responding to weak demand and slumping prices, a situation outlined last week by The Wall Street Journal in this story. This particular mine closur will cost 314 people their jobs.
While coal industry supporters would probably love to jump on the Samples closure as an example of how environmentalists or the Obama administration are hampering surface mining in the country, Patriot officials did not mention in their announcement any problems the company has had getting needed permits to continue at the site. As I mentioned, the company had just received one new permit, and no permits for Samples appear on the lists of Clean Water Act authorizations that the Obama EPA wants to look at more closely.
We’ll have a little more on this in tomorrow’s Gazette …
UPDATED, 10:50 a.m. Tuesday, … Here’s a link to today’s story.
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Well, I am jobless now. I know this website and newspaper will spin the story saying environmentalists had nothing to do with it. I beg to differ. Each time the environmentalists come up with another mineral that’s not “up to standard” in the downstream water, or a new regulation, this costs the companies money. Ken, not to long ago I mentioned that the environmentalists, including you, had a big push for selenium regulation. You guys have te DEP regulating the amount so low that the streams coming off of a mine site have to have a significant lower selenium level than our drinking water, plastic bottles or tap water. So, that is another example, enviro-extremists put fish before people. These jobs that were just lost are at least $75,000/year salaries. That is someone that didn’t work a lot of overtime.
I’m sure the Sierra Club, OVEC, etc. will claim victory for this shut down, but don’t doubt the fight has just begun. Now, us mountaintop removal guys have time to be like the members of these extreme environmentalist groups and can go protest, have gaterings, and so forth in support of this practice of mining. I challenge anyone to find jobs that pay $24.10 an hour to guys that are 40-60 years old without a high school diploma. Further yet, what about the guys that just graduated high school, where are they going to find a job that pays this good. Oh yea, I’m pretty sure GE or any other “green companies” can’t pay this, being they don’t have a plant in WV. Oh well.
So, keep it up, maybe you can get more mountaintop removal sites shut down and knock families out of their jobs that won’t be replaced by “green” jobs.
Brandon, I am very sorry for the loss of your job. It really stinks to get laid off. No doubt that is going to be a huge adjustment for you and everyone else at the site who got notice today.
It’s too late for me to offer advice about saving up money for an inevitable rainy day or anything like that. All I can say is you have been very blessed to have such a high paying job–I can’t think of anywhere else in the country where jobs that pay that well are commonplace for workers without a high school diploma. (That’s the reality of life in today’s economy and it does indeed suck. There were more jobs in this country when Pres. Bush took office then 8 years later when he left; at least today we have a President who is making job creation a priority.)
I can’t help but think the people to get angry at, though, are not environmentalists. The people to angry at are company owners and Wall Street bankers who are taking home huge bonuses even as banks and corporations continue to lose money. They are the ones grabbing a bigger and bigger slice of revenues and leaving the rest of us with crumbs.
The environmentalists I talk to are actively trying to bring good jobs to Appalachia. You are right, not all those jobs are going to pay as well as coal mining sometimes has. But, as you well know, those coal mining jobs have been disappearing for several decades (even when environmental rules were pretty much ignored). The coal mining jobs are going to go away one way or another–cleaner, safer, steadier work would at least be something.
The big question is if West Virginia is going to act in time to attract any green jobs before they all go elsewhere.
Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that you and everyone else that has been working at that site get put to work as soon as possible with remaining restoration work. That’s a project that would make all of us happy.
Brandon, sorry to hear about the layoff. I was floored when I heard the news. Our job is in bad shape also. We have a major permit tied up in the courts and way too much product on the ground. Take my advice, start researching places to relocate. Eventually all the surface mines will be closed because of the cost to comply with extreme enviromental regulation. Take comfort that our profession as heavy equipment operators is in high demand in mines all over the world. We can always go elsewhere and tear up some ground! Good luck with the job search.
Brandon,
I also want to say that I’m sorry to hear about the trouble your family now faces. And I want to thank you for the very civil tone you took in your post about this. I hope everyone else follows his lead and tries to be civil about this situation.
I want to point out, though, that — as I said at the time — your comments about selenium are misplaced. Go back and read your comment and my response here:
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/05/04/stopping-selenium-pollution-the-debate-continues/ and you’ll see what I mean.
You are no doubt correct that increased regulation in general increases costs for industry — any industry, not just coal. But out system also needs to be sure that costs include the requirement to protect the environment and worker safety and not simply externalize those costs, which is something I think most experts would agree the coal industry has done for far too long.
It’s also true that the coal industry has for a century or more been a boom-bust type of business. And one of the things that is happening now is that companies that were trying to mine a lot of coal while prices were high — gambling that those prices would stay that way — are seeing the prices drop and the result is mines being idled and workers being put out of a job.
And your employer, Brandon, has made it clear that it has a lot of coal reserves and lots of permitted operations — and that it is going to go mine whatever it can mine the cheapest to make the most money it can in the current difficult economy.
If you think environmentalists don’t care about jobs, you should take a listen to the way stock analysts and company executives talk about these issues on their quarterly conference calls …
Again, though, I am sorry to hear about your family’s situation and I hope for a smooth transition for you.
Ken.
Brandon,
I’m very sorry that you are jobless.
But judging from the way you write, you appear to be a smart guy. I’ll bet you’re resourceful enough to come up with another way to make a living, and I hope you use this time to prepare yourself for other work.
I grew up on a tobacco farm. My brother still lives there, and it’s ‘way out in the country where there’s little means of making a living outside of farming. And my brother stopped growing tobacco a few years ago, once it was no longer profitable. But because he is a resourceful Appalachian, he’s fine. About 15 years ago, he learned to do taxidermy, and that provided a big part of his income for a long time. Now he’s a mailman.
Now, you’re right that you probably won’t find something else that pays $75,000/year. And as Clem said, a job that pays that much to someone with no post-high school education is SO exceptional; even people with graduate degrees don’t feel entitled to that kind of money. Clem and Ken made several other good points that I won’t parrot.
Best of luck.
When my dad read in the paper in 2000 that he had lost his job at the steel mill it was pretty hard on my family — he hasn’t found stable work since. When I heard about Patriot Coal laying off 300 people in one swipe, I had the same punch in the gut feeling as I did watching all the steel mills close down. The people who made the decision to lay everyone off to increase their profits are not going to lose their job, and I bet they won’t take a pay cut.
However, one of those feelings is anger that our local government hasn’t done more to diversify our economy. I recently heard that Morgantown, WV has one of the most stable job markets in the US — it’s not because we have hills that we have a crap economy — there are many, many prosperous mountain areas.
Why are we so dependent on the whims of the coal bosses, who say they care about workers but lay them off at a second’s notice?
This horrible event should serve as a wake up call to the governor and local officials that we need more jobs, and jobs that aren’t tied to the ever-changing cost of coal.
My husband is also jobless. He went to work one day and the next day they call and said sorry your services are no longer required. No Notice, No chance to prepare. Thanks Patriot Coal. My husband has worked for Arch/Patriot for over 10 years and this is what he gets. Nothing. I guess you were planning this a few months back when you called the men in to discontinue their “Severence Packages”….or was it due to the talk of “Union”, who is running the Surface Mine now…Company Men. Got It, how dumb do you think West Virginia Men are ?
How many people will loose their homes. I want to also say thank you to the “Green People”. Will you pay my house payment or feed my children ?
Ken
You should be proud of yourself knowing you had a part in shutting down the Samples MTR job !
Congrats to you and the Gazette, you can be proud despite the devastation you helped cause the workers and their Families.
I would suggest that all the displaced workers send their car payments, house payments, food bills, etc to the Gazette and Ken Ward for reimbursement.
Civil enough Ken ?
brandon and holbrook12,i’ve been out of work since the last week of june so i do know how that feels.i’ve been looking for work,but to compensate for what i’ve lost means that bancruptcy is probably in my future.the only advantage that i may have is that my house is paid for.good luck on trying to find something that pays as good as your job,i hope you have better luck than i’ve had.
It’s a crappy situation for Brandon, but he’s right to place the anger not at the feet of his employer and place it elsewhere. If there wasn’t this drive to run the coal companies into the ground with environmental regulations the costs to run coal would be cheaper.
The coal companies aren’t out to ruin everyone, they are the same as any business. They keep as many employed and make as much money as possible. If the orders for coal aren’t there, they can’t employee as many people. They could run all the mines and build big stockpiles everywhere then lay everyone off for 6 months, or make smaller cuts (in a company wide sense). Believe it or not, coal companies sure like having many people working for them to make more money and more coal.
Mikey and holbrook12: I to hate that Patriot coal company decided to shut down the job site, but I believe you are blaming the wrong people for this closure. It has been my understanding that a coal company had to give 60 days notice to their employees that they intended a lay off or shutdown. I believe that Patriot did even better than that by paying all their employees for 60 days. Patriot coal said that it was due to the market conditions and the economy for the shutdown. No, I don’t believe Ken Ward is happy that Patriot Coal shut down, and also he shouldn’t be blamed for it. Union mines are being shut down and miners laid off. They face the same thing that you all do. The underground miners will have a harder time in getting employment especially those that are older that 40 or 50. The strip miners do have experience with heavy equipment, and have a better chance of finding employment with other companies. I wish you all luck in getting a job in the future. Surely you can draw unemployment benefits, and most of you all should have looked toward the future and being prepared for such a situation as a mine hutdown.
I have read where it was mentioned that strip miners made $25.00 an hour, and $75,000 a year. I don’t believe that UMWA miners get paid that much an hour. There are jobs out there to be had, but not for $75,000 a year. You all will survive, and someday peace and harmony will prevail throughout West Virginia. Good luck and God bless you all.
[...] Samples update: High-profile MTR mine shutting down [...]
Clem,
Your remarks are trite, pretentious and phony. I’m sure you, the same as anyone else, isn’t happy to see someone lose his job, but it’s obvious from your programmatic response to Brandon that as much as you see him and his plight in human terms you equally see him as an abstraction, and an opportunity for you, one of his “betters,” to climb up on your high morally and politically superior horse and then middle-class school-marmishly “correct’ his wayward political views and even lecture him for a fact not in evidence–on his need for thrift and saving for a rainy day.
Really, your tone is deplorable. I’d have been considerably more impressed if you’d stated a harsh truth–that the world needs ditch diggers, too. Needs them, in fact, more than it needs those largely fictitious job-creating environmentalists–Daryl Hannah, maybe?–you’ve invented for your patronizing ideological purposes.
My Two Cents — I’m sorry if I offended anyone in any way with what I said. I tried to be helpful, not hurtful.
I think you’re selling me short–there’s plenty of people who really don’t give a care about lost coal mining jobs in Appalachia. In fact, most of the country just wants to write off the entire state.
I’m strongly advocating for diversifying the West Virginia economy so laid off coal miners in the future will have decent job options to move on to. I don’t know what your interests are, but I’d think that would be something you’d like to see, too.
Coal River Wind (http://www.coalriverwind.org/) is a good example of environmentalists trying to create jobs. No fiction there.
The harsh truth is, indeed, the world needs a few ditch diggers, but not many, and most of them get right about minimum wage unless they have really good union representation.
So, what’s your solution to this mess that West Virginia is in?
My Two Cents: Did we read the same post? It’s obvious to me that Clem’s intentions were good, and I see nothing phony or pretentious in his comments. I think you are projecting things onto him that are undeserved.
This is great. I love “coal people” posting on this site. We need to tell more people about getting on here and defending our jobs, integrity, and Appalachian Heritage. No doubt this is a lopsided blog, but I believe, as long as we keep our comments “civil”, Ken will keep letting us post our viewpoints. Also, all the “pro” coal people need to keep up with twitter and topix. Controversy is a good thing as long as everyone is acting in an appropriate manner. There is no doubt that coal is just going to fold up and go home, because we have to have it until all the “green” gets in place. This country is not far from being ran just like California where the “green” movement started and look what shape they are in. Wow! Everyone is telling us to be more like California. Think the US owes China money now, wait until then. Steel markets have went overseas, automotive market has went overseas, clothing market has went overseas, now the “green” people and the politicians are driving coal overseas:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Massey-Energy-Adding-Miners-prnews-857977595.html?x=0&.v=1
So, coal companies can send coal to other countries and make profits wen they can’t sell it in their own counrty? I don’t understand…Wait, maybe it has to do with energy policy, EPA, DEP, and oh yea the federal government which has made nothing better in years, always worse.
Well Wisher,
I know cant when I hear it. So let’s just say my sensibility differs from yours and leave it at that, shall we? As I said, I’ve no doubt Mr. Gulatta is neither more nor less concerned for Brandon than any other ordinarily decent human being. But I also sense in Mr. Gulatta’s almost Victorian high-mindedness a snotty (if unintended) condescension. Since it was unintended, it was un-self-reflected, which makes it the more disconcerting if not reprehensible because he’s unaware of it and the extent to which it shapes him. He sees people and things through a humanitarian lens, I’m sure, but also through a first-principles filter of “good,” social science-laden “theories,” which lead him not to critical diagnosis but to lazy reliance on ideology-heavy talking points. In other words, Mr. Gulatta exhibits the characteristics of being yet another dreary, divorced-from-nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw, alienated “intellectual.”
A reason for the “air quotes” around “intellectual” is that I’m unimpressed with the “theory” of the decisive tension between social necessity and technical innovation in shaping economic outcomes and development (See David Landes and “Prometheus Unbound,” a major study of the social and scientific forces underlying the Industrial Revolution) he implicitly outlines when he writes:
“The big question is if West Virginia is going to act in time to attract any green jobs before they all go elsewhere.”
That sounds more like heavy-handed politics than economics. Either there are abundantly available (and economically viable) green natural resources available in the coalfields or there aren’t. I mean, what is Mr. Gulatta saying? That President Obama’s turned an hourglass on it’s head and time is running out for the Brandons of the world unless they quickly recant their anger and retrograde political views?
And then there’s this unfortunate formulation. Mr. Gulatta says, “The environmentalists I talk to are actively trying to bring good jobs to Appalachia.”
Get that? The environmentalists HE speaks to…
Well, their good intentions and get-their-ideological-tickets-punched “support” for economic coalfield diversity are much appreciated, but hot air is what they bring to the table, not money or any ability to create capital formation for the vaunted “green jobs” revolution anywhere in West Virginia.
Not in the coalfields and not in the non-coal-producing rural areas of West Virginia, either.
My Two Cents –
I get it — you don’t appreciate the tone and attitude somebody is taking on this blog. I agree that tone and attitude on the Internet can really rankle — it seems to be something about the medium.
Going from there, what about substance — is there more you can say on that, particularly something pointing readers to your idea of the good?
That is, can you take a minute and talk about some approaches you think are positive, and who’s taking them? I think the readers of this blog would appreciate that.
I’m very sorry about the families impacted by the closing. I was married to a UMWA miner and well know the ups & downs of the coal industry and the impact it has, both bad and good on real people – the ones left behind after the Slab Forks, the Westmorelands, the Consols, the Armcos, the Peabodys, the Addingtons, the Hyltons, the Hamiltons, the Masseys, and on and on, have make as much money as they can and go on .
As a southern WV who wanted nothing more than a good job and a family in Raleigh Co. when I graduated college, I understand the fear and uncertainty when plans don’t work out. I graduated during the Reagan recession and was never able to find that job.
So, I get alot of it.
What I don’t get is why the workers, families, elected officials, etc. are ever surprised when these mines close. How many former miners under 70, do any of us know who are really able to make a career from mining and retire with a company pension and health care benefits anymore???? How many ever made it retirement with their health? Certainly most of the retired miners I knew in my childhood limped and coughed all the way thru their golden years. And, they were the lucky ones – they got a decent pension and UMWA health care. Nearly all of the former miners closer to my age now are living on disability and odd jobs.
It’s time to tell some hard truths – don’t depend on mining for a living. When will we learn??
As far as losing jobs to China and elsewhere – nothing will stop and environmentalists, community activists, have NOTHING to do with that. When you have people willing to work in terribly unsafe conditions for a fraction of what we make in the U.S., guess what? The coal companies are going to take advantage of them. Just like they have taken advantage of generatons of broken, beat down West Virginians. They leave when the profits go down and we’re left behind.
If you really believe there’s any future for any “workers” and communties in mining, just spend a day in McDowell County. Certainly, the out of state executives and shareholders from Olga, Wheeling-Pitt, US Steel, etc. did well but that’s where it ends, folks. Always has, and always will until we get a hell of a lot more ambitious and demand more out of life.
Well said, Penny.
Mr. Rodd,
A starting point would be for “progressives” to quit pretending there are any simple “environmentalist” answers to this particular social-industrial economic crisis in West Virginia and to cease to look down their bridge-of-the-aquiline-nose-tilted reading glasses at a “Brandon” and loftily advising him on bourgeois principles of professional-class thrift, which Brandon had probably already learned from his parents.
As for desire for more “substance” from me, I reject that as an intellectually valid premise. Why do all forms of criticism have to be instrumentalized in order to be valid? I consider thoroughgoing critique a legitimate end in and of itself.
In fact, I strongly recommend that kind of personal and social-policy self-critique for “progressives” lest they risk of having nothing more to offer than empty, talking-point bromides.
So many of the “progressive intellectuals” such as Mr. Gulatta have nothing in common with someone like Brandon. They’re are not of their world or their experience. They’re not people who grew up with them, are related to them or ever went to school with them or have any serious, day-to-day, my-future’s-linked-to-yours stake in the game. The reasons for that have to do with class status and the likely fact that the Mr. Gulatta’s aren’t even from West Virginia in the first place.
That doesn’t in and of itself invalidate their points of view, but it does put it in a perspective that needs to be part of the brutally honest critique that I’ve advised as a meaningful first step in the direction of a dialogue that isn’t one-sided or people talking past one another.
Re: Ken’s response to Brandon- spot on!
Let’s stop and think about it and not fall for the divide and conquer mentality that pits the laborers in this society against each other instead of uniting us against the coal owners.
Patriot/Catenary was very candid about the reason for closing the Samples Mine- the price of coal is down! Less profits for the owners, who do not hesitate to sacrifice 300 jobs in order to maintain their bottom line.
I work for a construction company which has been hit very hard by the housing lottery, created by this government, not “treehuggers.” My boss has seen his bottom line do down,down,down for the last several years yet chooses to take the hit and keep as many employed here as possible. Brandon, why don’t you and all of us expect the same response from the coal owners. Why do we not rail against the UMW for not fighting this, union or non-union, it shouldn’t matter to them.
“Treehuggers” and “out-of-staters” are not the problem. They are easy scapegoats and coal and politicians know it. And use it against us.
WV Coal – Stuck between Barack and a hard place!
Well said Jeri. When we get real about addressing the very problem of climate change, and build the green manufactruing sector we will have 2 or 3 times the number of jobs than the fossil fuel industry can provide. I know change is hard. And many people have a lot invested in pretending coal is great and climate change is not happening. But the longer we put off addressing the problem the more expensive the solutions will be. There is plenty of wind to be harvested on top of those mountains and wind mills provide long term jobs.
Dennis – President Obama has very little to do with coal prices and the cost of mining in China. Wake up, man – the Friends of Coal have been feeding you a steady dose of “they are all out to get us” – Al Gore, John Kerry, Obama, Pelosi, enviros, local malcontents, national Dems… you name it. Used to be the coal companies had to hire Baldwin-Felts thugs for their dirty business, now they just use their employees. More money for the shareholders and the Don Blankenships and Steve Leers…..
Well said Penny.
Green jobs – what green jobs? Climate change now instead of global warming? Wind power? Get real. You cannot and will not replace coal fired electric generation any time soon. The President appoints his cabinet – one of which – Director of the EPA -”Coal is my worst nightmare”. His VP says “No more coal power plants here, maybe in China” . What are we supposed to think? The hard working coal miners and their families are under attack and that’s the bottom line. So, get your head out of the sand and look around. Coal makes the good life possible for every American.
I believe that it was a right wing thinker by the name of Luntz that coined the phrase “climate change”. I may be wrong about that, if I am, I have no doubt that someone will make the correction. Ken, do you know?
You right Nanette, Luntz put out a memo of talking points for Republicans with advice on how to talk about global warming. (I posted a link to that memo once before on Coal Tattoo.) Luntz did surveys; “global warming” sounded dire, “climate change” sounded more like a trip to Ft Lauderdale. When the memo was leaked, there was some outrage on the left and in the environmental community. It’s ironic that folks on the right are outraged by the term today.
I wouldn’t call Luntz a “right-wing thinker.” He’s more of a Republican strategist/communications consultant. For a while at least, he was burned out on politics. I don’t know if Luntz actually came up with, “climate change” or just worked hard to get the phrase into the popular discourse. My guess it the latter. There are other reasons the term is popular. It’s a better description. (It’s not just warming, it’s lots of other things, too.) It ‘sounds’ more thoughtful or serious, more dispassionate and rational. It’s probably used a lot because speakers and writers, conscious (or even unconscious) of communication style, simply interchange “climate change” and “global warming” for variation.
I’ve posted before, Luntz regrets his memo. Perhaps because his advice backfired, but definitely because he now thinks global warming is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Dennis Wellman–it was Sec. of Energy (and Nobel Physics Laureate) Steven Chu who said “coal is my worst nightmare”, not EPA’s Lisa Jackson.
Thanks Red Desert, I thought that Luntz had something to do with it. I am also glad that he now knows that global warming/climate change is a real problem.
I like you find it interesting that the folks on the right pick the term to pieces.
You are also right that is was Steven Chu not Lisa Jackson who made the comment “that coal is my worst nightmare.”
Someone just knocked on my door for this “cause”. I told the girl I didn’t want to take jobs away from Americans and she said it didn’t. Immediately I googled the site, and realized they are getting signatures by lying to people and saying this method is what is taking jobs away.
What site did you google?