Program
Committee 
Richard A. Bajura, WVU National Research
Center for Coal & Energy
Kenneth Dickens, Esq., West Virginia
Board of Coal Mine Health & Safety
Jeff Herholdt, West Virginia Development Office
Energy Efficiency Programs
Chris Hamilton, West Virginia Coal Association
Fred Tucker, United Mine Workers of America
Trina Karolchik Wafle, WVU National Research
Center for Coal & Energy
PRELIMINARY
AGENDA
| July 22, 2004 |
| 8:30 |
Registration and Continental Breakfast |
| 9:00 |
Welcome
Jeff Herholdt,
West Virginia Development Office |
| 9:05 |
Overview
Richard Bajura, National Research Center for
Coal and Energy |
| 9:10 |
Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Chris Hamilton, West Virginia Coal Forum |
| 9:15 |
The Coal Industry in 2004
Connie
Holmes, Senior Economist & Director
of
International Policy, National Mining Association |
| 10:00 |
Energy Roadmap
Patrick Esposito, Governor’s Energy Task
Force |
| 10:15 |
Focus Session One: Coal and
West Virginia’s Economy
Coal’s Impact on West Virginia
Bill Raney, West Virginia Coal Association
Economic Profile of the Coal Industry
Tom Witt, West Virginia University
The Coal Industry’s Contribution to
State and Local Government Finances
Mark Muchow, West Virginia Tax and
Revenue Division
DuPont and the Eastern Panhandle A Fifty
Year Relationship Built on Coal
Max Burnham, E.I. DuPont
Walker Machinery/A Friend of Coal
Roger Lilly, Walker Machinery |
| noon |
Lunch |
| 12:30 |
Introductions of Luncheon Speakers and Afternoon Keynote Address
Chris Hamilton, West Virginia Coal Association and the West Virginia Coal Forum
Don Nehlen, Friends of Coal and former head coach of the WVU Mountaineers
Eugene Trisko, Center for Energy & Economic Development and the United Mine Workers,
speaking on Air Quality Challenges Facing West Virginia Coal |
| 1:15 |
Focus Session Two: Linking West Virginia’s Energy Resources to the Nation’s Energy Security
Senator John Unger
Carl Bauer, National Energy Technology Laboratory |
| 2:15 |
Open Forum: How Should West
Virginia’s
Energy Resources be Deployed to Enhance
Energy Security |
| 3:00 |
Evaluations and Closing |
|
Coal and Economic Impact
*
- West Virginia coal is shipped
to 33 states and the District of Columbia.
- West Virginia coal is shipped to 25 countries.
- The coal industry and the coal burning electric generating
industry together represent nearly 60% of the business taxes
paid to the State of West Virginia.
- West Virginia’s coal industry pays over one billion
dollars in annual direct wages.
- Coal is responsible for more than $3.5 billion to West
Virginia’s gross state product, nearly 13% of the
total.
- In the eastern region, Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson,
Morgan, and Pendleton counties produce no coal but receive
coal severance tax money.
* Coal Facts 2003 – West Virginia
Coal Association Inc.
Meeting to Focus on Coal, National Security
By C. Kenna Amos
The State Journal
July 2, 2004
Coal’s pivotal rolein the Mountain State’s economy and its potential national-security impact will get explored in a July 22 workshop in Shepherdstown.
The public meeting, which is part of the 2004 Coal Workshop Series and whose topic is “The Role of Coal in Economic and Homeland Security,” is sponsored by the West Virginia Development Office, West Virginia Coal Forum and the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at West Virginia University.
Besides educating the public about the coal-economy relationship, another goal is to challenge attendees to “think outside of the box” about how coal — particularly, West Virginia coal — affects homeland security, said Trina Wafle, NRCCE deputy director.
The principal question for which answers will be sought, she said, is: “How can we use coal and our geographic position in the country to help assure energy availability?”
She estimates 30 to 50 attendees, including “people who can offer very good insights.” Participants will include speakers from the energy sector. Besides the public, invited are Chambers of Commerce, especially from the Eastern Panhandle, as well as public officials.
Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association and a scheduled speaker, thinks the “(meeting’s) subject is so important: (the role) that West Virginia and American coal plays in the energy infrastructure of this country.”
The Governor’s Energy Task Force Report is the background for the meeting, said NRCCE Director Dick Bajura. Another driver is last year’s Coal Energy Roadmap Workshop Series, co-sponsored by the West Virginia Development Office, Coal Forum and NRCCE.
Examined in morning sessions will be the coal-economy connection. Discussions will be held on the economic profile of the coal industry, the industry’s contribution to state and local finances (especially through severance taxes), as well as industrial relationships with the Eastern Panhandle.
Wafle said speakers will include Connie Holmes of the National Mining Association and Eugene Trisko, an attorney representing the Center for Energy and Economic Development and the United Mine Workers of America, Wolfe indicated.
According to Bajura, Trisko will discuss air-quality issues facing the state. Bajura noted there “could be big problem for West Virginia coal” because of federal rules, established through the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, that limit mercury emitted as air pollution from coal-fired electricity-generating plants.
One issue is uncertainty of the regulations, he said. Also, “there is a lot of concern that the proposed regulations discriminate against coal type.” The federal law is more than twice as lenient for power plants using sub-bituminous coal, prevalent in the western U.S. coal seams. The law “works against Eastern coal,” Bajura said.
Discussed in afternoon sessions will be the coal-homeland security linkage. Carl Bauer, associate director of the Office of Coal and Environmental Systems at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, will discuss “energy programs that we could build on for enhanced energy security,” Wafle said.
“Coal’s impact on West Virginia is just going to get bigger,” Bajura said. Given the national energy situation, he believes the state is in “an excellent position to take advantage” of the need for coal-powered energy, including coal-fired electricity generation.
“This bodes well for the (state’s) economy,” he said.
“We have these coal deposits (and) we have a huge (national) sector that relies on foreign oil,” Wafle said. “As we move forward, we have to look at replacing that with coal.”
Two other workshops are scheduled in this year’s series. On Sept. 22, in Morgantown, will be “Coal Utilization Technologies,” in part because of the proximity of the Morgantown NETL. On Nov. 10, in Charleston, will be “National Coal Issues on West Virginia.”
Registration is set for 8:30 a.m. for the July 22 meeting at the Clarion Hotel in Shepherdstown. The greeting is at 9 a.m., with evaluations and closing scheduled for 3 p.m.
More information on NRCCE and the Coal Workshop series is available at (304) 293-2867.
|
