Posted on 02/01/2012 6:15:17 PM PST by Timber Rattler
Its a tough time for hundreds of coal miners across southwest Virginia.
That's because they're getting pink slips from A & G Coal, which is owned by Southern Coal Company.
Mark Whooten is a spokesman for Southern Coal. He told News 5 who made the decision. "These layoffs are a decision by our corporate headquarters. They are market driven due to metallurgical coal market fluctuating violently at the present time."
The company wouldn't tell us how many jobs they have cut, but we do know its sizeable according to the manager of the local employment office, Gary Hale. "On Monday we saw approximately about 92 folks that visited the office."
(Excerpt) Read more at wcyb.com ...
Obama’s EPA Forces 6 More Coal Plant Closures
and THIS:
AP IMPACT: EPA rules threaten older power plants
and THIS:
Yes, but it’s Bush’s fault...
Oh, don’t worry - they can get new, green, safer jobs - like growing pot.
Seriously, this is disastrous for this area, and I feel very badly for those people, who are essentially trapped. Certainly, there is no other industry there that can absorb this.
O promised this in the election. Now people know he meant it.
Wait until we can’t even afford our electric bills.
That’s OK Virginia. Your savior is coming. All hail your new king, King Romney.
EPA is staffed with anti-captalists and congress and presidents cede power to them. Their mandate as they see it, is not to protect the environment, but to destroy capitalism.
IOW Obama could care less. In fact it is payoff time, in reverse.
They might need to hire more workers to staff the unemployment office to handle the load. These staff positions will count as jobs that Obama “created”.
Barack the Kenyan told everyone that he was going to do this once he was “elected” president. They voted for him anyway. They shouldn’t be surprised by his “hope and change”. It’s all part of Barack the Kenyan’s “history”.
Metallurgical coal is used in steel mills, not power plants. The effect of the closing of the coal fired power plants in nearby Ohio and elsewhere will be body punch number 2 to the coal industry. Hope the Virginians get over their idiot romance with democrats before they all go belly up.
“Virginia was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 6.3% margin of victory.”
Does anything else need to be said?
Also, the coal produced in Southwest Virginia is bituminous, which is used in the power plants that are now closing. I know...I come from a long line of coal miners in that area.
The article says it’s metallurgical coal, not bituminous coal.
Metallurgical coal is used in blast furnaces at steel mills.
Bituminous coal is used to fire electrical generating plants.
Since it’s metallurgical coal, I suspect the layoffs are due to a general drop in US steel production from reduced demand in the current economy and significantly increased steel and finished goods imports.
The EPA’s new rules will hit the bituminous miners, of course, but that’s not the problem in this particular instance.
First victims?!?!?!
Those are all of US about 30+ years ago!
and Penn is always a toss up...
someday, I won't care anymore about my fellow Americans...I'm not there yet...
but is some Americans insist on killing off our future, I guess I might just not care about theirs....
You are absolutely correct! This area(I live in SWVA) is already about as low as you can get with all of the industry leaving over the past 15 years. I had the misfortune of having to go to the grocery store this evening, which I usually avoid during the 1st of the month due to the place being beyond crowded with 'food stamp' customers. During the rest of the month, it's a ghost town. During the first week of the month is the only time you see evidence of much economic activity. That says alot about the condition of the area here, and it's saddening to see. When I was growing up(being in my 30s, that wasn't long ago), the roads used to be crowded with traffic of people going to WORK. It would be the same way during the evenings. The grocery stores used to be crowded daily. Now when you go out at 7AM, it looks like a weekend morning.
It's disgusting to see what would be a community of otherwise hard working people have to turn to .gov for handouts because what few jobs that DO remain here(retail), no one can support a family on. I could easily imagine many people going back to the traditions of this area and taking to the woods to produce the demanded product(s) of the current prohibition.
You are absolutely correct! This area(I live in SWVA) is already about as low as you can get with all of the industry leaving over the past 15 years. I had the misfortune of having to go to the grocery store this evening, which I usually avoid during the 1st of the month due to the place being beyond crowded with 'food stamp' customers. During the rest of the month, it's a ghost town. During the first week of the month is the only time you see evidence of much economic activity. That says alot about the condition of the area here, and it's saddening to see. When I was growing up(being in my 30s, that wasn't long ago), the roads used to be crowded with traffic of people going to WORK. It would be the same way during the evenings. The grocery stores used to be crowded daily. Now when you go out at 7AM, it looks like a weekend morning.
It's disgusting to see what would be a community of otherwise hard working people have to turn to .gov for handouts because what few jobs that DO remain here(retail), no one can support a family on. I could easily imagine many people going back to the traditions of this area and taking to the woods to produce the demanded product(s) of the current prohibition.
That lone blue county you see there from 2008 is Montgomery County. That’s where Blacksburg is, which is the home of Virginia Tech. We go there often, and when college is going on, the place is a zoo. The college always distorts the results out of that county, compared to the surrounding area.
Montgomery County, outside of Blacksburg as every bit as conservative as all the rest in the area.
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