Friends of Coal: Manchin sets big meeting with industry
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has scheduled what sounds like an “all-hands-on-deck” meeting of his coal industry friends for next week … Among the list of those invited and apparently likely to attend:
– Massey Energy President Don Blankenship, CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey, International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield, top officials from a dozen other coal companies, and various lobbyists from the West Virginia Coal Association.
– U.S. Reps. Nick Rahall and Shelley Moore Capito, along with representatives of Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller.
– County commissioners from Kanawha, Boone, Logan, Lincoln and Mingo counties.
– Joe Carter and Ted Hapney from the United Mine Workers of America union.
– Manchin’s chief of staff, DEP Secretary Randy Huffman and three other of Manchin’s cabinet secretaries.
Matt Turner, Manchin’s communications director, said officials from some of West Virginia’s southern coal counties asked the governor to “put together a meeting to discuss the economic impact of coal. “
The meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday. So far, I haven’t been able to find out exactly where. It seems the public isn’t invited — and you’ll notice that nobody from the environmental community is on the list, either.
Nobody on the list like Michael Hendryx, the WVU professor whose research shows that coal costs Appalachia more than it provides in economic benefits, or from the Sierra Club, which published a report showing that limits on mountaintop removal aren’t the end of the world for the state’s economy.
You think anyone at the meeting will bring up the fact that the cap-and-trade bill is estimated to cost the average American household less than 50 cents a day? Will they talk about how the costs of inaction on climate change outweigh the costs of trying to fix the problem?
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I’m collecting facts about “the economic impact of coal” to share with Gov. Manchin. If anyone has some they’d like to add, please share them at http://www.wvablue.com/diary/5249/joe-manchin-needs-your-help
Or feel free to post links here on Coal Tattoo … I included several in my original post
Ken.
Folks,
I’m pasting below an AP story on this meeting … is it just me, or does the administration’s explanation for why the public and the media can’t attend simply not make any sense?
On the one hand, the meeting is to discuss the potential impacts of proposed federal actions on coal revenues … but on the other hand, we don’t need the public or environmentalists there, because we’re not talking about environmental regulations.
To discuss the impacts of climate legislation or permit reviews on “coal revenues” without talking about why that legislation or those permit reviews are needed? That’s a cost-benefit analysis without discussing the benefits.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Gov. Joe Manchin is planning to host a private meeting on the future of coal in West Virginia with government, industry and labor representatives.
Manchin spokesman Matt Turner says Tuesday’s meeting was requested by county commissioners from Boone, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan and Mingo counties who are worried about how proposed federal actions could affect coal revenues.
Turner says Manchin agreed to host the meeting, and members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation, or their staffs, are expected to attend.
The meeting will be a closed-door affair so the participants can have what Turner termed a candid discussion on the issues.
He says groups opposed to mining have not been invited because the meeting is not about environmental regulations.
Pro-coal was not invited to the sit-in held by an evironmental group. Gov. Manchin spoke with them, with out pro-coal. Now he will speak with pro-coal without the environmental group. Chaps your backside but sure looks fair to me. He will hear from both sides….sounds like the thing to do.
Does anyone really think that there are “two sides” to this? I think that sort of gross simplification doesn’t really shed any light on the issue. As Clem has pointed out there are economic issues that don’t seem to be represented at this “economic” summit. It seems a bit silly to think that this meeting will involve these guys sitting around “discussing the economic impacts of coal”, especially when some of those economic impacts likely won’t be heard. Let’s call it what it is and not pretend that there is some sort of standard that requires imagining that an issue only has two sides and then pretending to account for both of them.
Mr. Ward, I have a suggestion for you … why don’t you run for office. You obviously believe you are better qualified to run or state than anyone we could elect and you seem to desperately want to make policy.
Trouble is, nobody is buying what you are selling. I notice in reading these posts that it is usually the same five or six people, such as Clem Guttata and Roselle, Daisy Mae and a handful of others.
Perhaps these people could be your campaign staff.
I’ll kick it off, Ken Ward for God! No, that title is taken. Okay, Ken Ward for president! No, can’t question Obama. One more … Ken Ward for Governor! Well, not in West Virginia. Alright, Ken Ward for — Congress? Seems like a good fit to me … except for the fact that it is probably the single biggest source of global warming in the world today, what with all the hot air coming from there.
Manchin didn’t have a “meeting” with the protesters in his office, and he certainly didn’t call it. Coal operators don’t have to have a sit-in to have an audience with him. He invites them and has a meeting paid for by taxpayers. He’s not doing this on personal time.
Half the problem is the labeling of any citizen opposed to any aspect of the coal industry, whether it be economic, social, labor, legislative, judicial, etc., as an “environmentalist.” There are plenty of detrimental economic impacts to the public, such as the reports Ken mentioned and more. Surface mining only employs one percent of the WV workforce (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Why then is the public excluded from this meeting, the records/minutes of which must be made publicly available?
It would be an act of true leadership if Gov. Manchin did convene a summit with the same people as today’s meeting PLUS community and environmental activists who care equally about broader visions for West Virginia’s future.
There has never been a forum for alternative voices to share information with the Gov. and WVa. Reps. / Sens. in this manner. This meeting demonstrates quite starkly who does and does not have a seat at the table in having their concerns heard.
If I was at this meeting, here are some questions about “how proposed federal actions could affect coal revenues” that I would want to ask:
- After questions were raised about Sec. Huffman’s congressional testimony (by a leaked memo from his own staff), the WV DEP “clarified” that he didn’t mean to suggest that MTR impacts were limited to those things he mentioned in the testimony. So, what additional impacts does Sec. Huffman acknowledge that MTR has? What is the economic cost of those impacts? Will the proposed federal actions address them?
- There is a lot of unreclaimed mine land present in W.Va. Can this be used instead of valley fills for the temporary storage of fill materials prior to returning land to approximate original contour? What is the projected additional cost of doing this? What would the increase in employment be?
- What percentage of coal currently being mined via mountaintop removal could be mined through other methods. What would the increase in cost be? What would the increase in employment be?
- What is the estimated economic cost for addressing the damage of killing an entire watershed like Dunkard Creek? Will proposed federal actions make such an event less likely in the future?
There’s all sorts of other issues that should be considered to get a full picture of the impact of coal on the WVa economy. Even within the limited framing this meeting supposedly is going to have, without other viewpoints represented it’s unlikely that important issues will be raised.
Vernon,
I’m not sure where you are getting this:
“…the records/minutes of which must be made publicly available?”
I don’t believe that this meeting falls under the West Virginia Open Governmental Procedures Act. There is no “governing body” involved as that term is defined in the law:
“Governing body” means the members of any public agency having the authority to make decisions for or recommendations to a public agency on policy or administration, the membership of a governing body consists of two or more members; for the purposes of this article, a governing body of the Legislature is any standing, select or special committee, except the commission on special investigations, as determined by the rules of the respective houses of the Legislature.
And, I doubt this constitutes a “meeting” as that term is defined by the law:
“Meeting” means the convening of a governing body of a public agency for which a quorum is required in order to make a decision or to deliberate toward a decision on any matter which results in an official action.
http://www.rcfp.org/ogg/index.php?op=browse&state=WV
That, of course, doesn’t mean that Gov. Manchin can’t open it up to the press and the public just to show how transparent he wants to be.
Ken.
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