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11/01/2009

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Hoppy's Commentary

Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval

West Virginia’s Democratic Party put on a good show Saturday night at their Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner fund raiser in Charleston. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, one of the more entertaining politicians on the speaking circuit today, provided the partisan crowd with some red meat.

“If there was a vote on Christmas, they’d vote ‘no’ on that,” Schweitzer said of the Republicans.

Schweitzer and others who spoke had a like-minded crowd so the one-liners went over well. But the festive atmosphere of the night belies the conundrum facing the Democratic leadership in West Virginia.

Senators Rockefeller and Byrd, Congressmen Rahall and Mollohan, and Gov. Manchin now find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They supported and, in some cases, campaigned for Barack Obama. Now the Obama Administration’s EPA is blocking permits for surface coal mines that are vital to the state’s economy.

West Virginians recognize this and are applying heat on the Democratic delegation. But interestingly, there are also those within the Democratic Party who are raising the same questions as the average voter.

Last week, state Senate President Truman Chafin wrote a letter to the Williamson Daily News. In it, the long-time fixture of Democratic politics in Southern West Virginia placed responsibility for the permitting stall.

“And to our congressional delegation and governor, who supported and endorsed President Obama, well, this chicken has now come home to roost,” Chafin wrote. “It is now time they call ‘in’ their political note for their support.”

True, Chafin supported Hillary Clinton over Obama in the West Virginia Primary Election, but Democrats are supposed to unite after the election. Chafin’s outspokenness shows that just at the late Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.”

The parochial interests of West Virginia—particularly in this case southern West Virginia—outweigh any grand plans by the Obama Administration concerning energy. Coal miners and their families do not have the luxury of engaging in philosophical debates.

Chafin’s letter identifies this as a “critical moment for all of us,” a time for the Democratic leadership---including himself—to “march to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and then to President Obama himself, and demand that this bureaucratic obstruction by the EPA end and end NOW.”

The state’s Washington delegation has made similar criticisms of the EPA, but no Democrat has gone quite as far as Chafin in putting the permitting controversy at the steps of the White House and assigning culpability to state Democrats who supported Obama.

As Chafin asked in his letter, “How will we and our representatives respond?”

Chafin has identified THE fundamental question facing the long-standing Democratic leaders of this state. The real issue is not whether Republicans would vote against Christmas, but whether the Democratic representation of this state will do what it was elected to do to make sure West Virginia has a Christmas.

User Comments

Global Warming is Hoax. The facts are that the Earth's temperature has not gone up since 1998 and in fact has been cooling the last two years -- FACTS FOLKS. The global warming hoax is an international movement which has at its core the desire to control on an international basis development of all types though the control of energy. The redistribution of wealth from propserous nations to the UN is another focus of the Cap and Trade regime recommended by the United Nationa. Either Rockefeller, Byrd, Rahall, and Mollohan are "all in" for this swindel or they are just ignorant. The Obama EPA is doing what they promised they would do which is to stop MTR now and eventually to stop all mining and drilling in time. Obama would stop the use of coal now if it was not for the fact that coal fuels over 50% of the electricity in the USA. The simple fact is this, MTR is a safe, efficient, and economical way of mining coal in Southern West Virginia. Not mining in this manner will result in higher costs for electricity. Eventually, if Obama gets his way; we will see coal imported from China instead of coal being a major export by the USA. Rockefeller believes in Cap and Trade and says that those who deny Global Warming are trying to scare coal miners. The truth is that the Democrats are not willing to allow the debate over the science of global warming because it will reveal just how shallow their position is. The global warming denier states that the warming is cyclical and is caused by (now get this) global warming is caused by the SUN. It should be easy to see that Obama EPA's opposition to MTR is simply a political payoff to the radicals who now run the Executive Branch.

Hoppy the young people just dont get it or understand what coal is all about.If it was not for the coal business of yesterday this state would have nothing.It is not the people who know little or nothing that we have in the offices today including manchin rockefeller.The coal business going out Thanks for the great change we have today/.Why are we letting the Federal Government having so much control.They have not for years been able to do anything right.And this administration is all about control.We had all better make a chage and get our country back.There is a need for coal.but one thing about it we do have clean air the heck with jobs.China will take them all they dont care they love there jobs.I hope they dont run out of money if they do where will The U.S go.Shame when we had it all.Keep looking for hand outs.

Give us some numbers Hop, how many jobs have been lost? How much revenue to the state has been lost? Fact is there is a big surplus of coal on the ground right now because the slowdown in our economy has greatly lessened demand for coal. One coal miner told me the mine he worked at was going to layoff this past spring but they found a last minute customer in Eastern Europe. I know this gives you a chance to beat up on Obama, which you obviously relish, but these are fear tactics by the industry to put pressure on the administration to rubber stamp their request like Bush did. Why else the statewide media blitz when the market is currently flooded?

Hoppy, it would be more appropriate to say that WV Democrats who supported Obama are between "Barrack" and a hard place at the moment!

So, what will the five Democrats you mentioned fare in the light of the Obama Administration's "War on Coal?" The answer is surprisingly simple:

Bob Byrd's safe. He could propose a bill to close every coal mine in the state and STILL win reelection. Joe Manchin's safe, he can't run for reelection as Governor. Jay Rockefeller's safe because he still has TONS of money to give himself a PR makeover before his next election bid. That leaves Mollohan and Rahall, these two gents WOULD BE in serious political trouble IF the WV GOP had any descent candidates to run against them. Fortunately for them, they don't.

Bottom line, nothing new under the sun. Our state's voters will continue to send Byrd, Rockefeller, Rahall and Mollohan to Washington in spite of their alliegence to the President and his anti-coal policies. I wish WV voters would wise up and quit voting for people like this, but they NEVER, EVER will. The more things change, the more they stay the same in West Virginia.

Sir,

I am concerned with the very mixed message being put out by the Obama Administration as represented by Secretary Clinton's speech in Pakistan a few days ago.

What follows is the text of emails I sent to Governor Manchin, Senators Byrd and Rockefeller and Congressman Mollohan yesterday.

I am very concerned about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks in Pakistan this week regarding their use of coal. While we are being asked to shut down our industry in WV, the Administration is giving wink and nod encouragement to Pakistan to develop coal resources. She also states that we don't know where we're going to be on the "climate issue", yet this very issue is the weapon used to cripple our state.

Her complete remarks are found here - http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/10/131073.htm

The specific paragraphs of concern to me are here:

"There is no doubt that energy is at the heart of many of the economic problems that Pakistan faces – the unreliability, the erratic cross-structure, the failure to capture the full load that is produced. It’s just a lot of problems. And one of the things that Ambassador Holbrooke’s team has done is to do an in-depth study of what are the most difficult issues, but what could be addressed in a very systematic way.

So as I said earlier, we made our announcement yesterday. But I appreciate the kind of chicken-and-egg issue that you were talking about – the more access, the more economic development, the greater the energy challenges. And I think that there is no prohibition that I know of internationally, and I asked Minister Qureshi whether there had been any prohibition nationally under developing your coal deposits. Now, obviously, that is not the best thing for the climate, but everybody knows that. But many of your neighbors are producing coal faster than they can even talk about it. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact that coal is going to remain a part of the energy load until we can transition to cleaner forms of energy.

So getting the resources to exploit your coal as opposed to being dependent upon imported energy is a choice for you to make, but it is certainly a choice that your neighbors have made. And that’s something that should attract foreign investment and should attract capital investment within your own country. And we don’t know how we’re going to proceed on the climate change issue. We’re working hard to come to some framework before Copenhagen, but coal will be, for the foreseeable future, part of the energy mix. And if you have these kinds of reserves, you should see the best and cleanest technology for their extraction and their use going forward."

I think I'll "march to" the Governor's office and "demand" that Manchin start cutting timber on state lands in order to increase the percentage of the early successional growth stage to a healthy level.

I didn't realize it was all that easy....I thought I would have to explain who the heck I was, what early successional is and why he needed to listen to me....or else. Or else I would stamp my foot and look real mean.

I suggest that Chafin, et al buy new boots and work on their "mean" look. It's all they got!

i must admit to being ignorant of the facts of this issue and ask is the EPA blocking MTR mining? if that is the case can the coal be obtained another way? if that is the case why don't we do that? the troubles in the south appear to be good news for the north though since none of the mines here are laying off indeed some are hiring. so for local politics i guess it is okay north of flatwoods.

The problem for years is the Federal Mine Inspectors and State Mine Inspectors. A Coal Company can pass the State Mine Inspectors, But still get wrote up or Shutdown by the Federal Mine Inspectors. We need ONE Rule Book ! The State Rule Book ! Get all the Federal Agencies out of the Coal Business. This is a State jurisdiction not FEDERAL ! WV Elected Officals are capible of controlling WV Coal Mining without any Federal Government Intervention !

West Virginia Christian Militia (WVCM) Vietnam Veterans For Christ, James, http://mysite.verizon.net/k8mia/

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