November 11, 2004

Coal workshop addresses environmental regulations

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

New federal environmental regulations could specifically affect the West Virginia coal industry.

That's according to speakers at a state energy workshop in Charleston yesterday.

Calvin Kent is a former administrator of the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy who's now with Marshall University.

He says proposed environmental regulations don't include mandatory provisions for mercury reductions. That hurts Central Appalachian coal, he says, because it's easier to clean mercury out of that coal than from western coal.

Massey Energy chairman and C-E-O Don Blankenship says environmentalists' focus on mercury pollution is misguided because of the small amount found in the United States compared with the rest of the world.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside the conference, holding up signs decrying mountaintop removal mining and Blankenship's role in promoting Republican Brent Benjamin's successful state Supreme Court bid over incumbent Democrat Warren McGraw.

Blankenship said he was proud that he spent three-point-five million dollars on the campaign.



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On the Net:

West Virginia Energy Roadmap Workshops: http://www.wvenergyroadmapworkshops.org