Kentucky “Friends of Coal Tag” Unveiling – Gov. Steve Beshear Creative Commons A while ago I decided to do some investigating on who or what “Friends of Coal” was. What I found surprised me (well not really).

Friends oF Coal: a suCCess As it. Under the direction of the West Virginia Coal Association, a logo. And a Friends of Coal license plate for personal vehicles. West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles Application for a Friends of Coal License Plate. New Friends of Coal License Plate Unveiled Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joe Miller unveiled the new Friends of Coal license plate May 6 at the joint meeting of the West Virginia Coal Association and the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute. Earl Ray Tomblin and West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joe Miller unveiled the new Friends of Coal license plate Friday morning.

Friends of Coal wasn’t a group of coal miners and their families working to help one another during hard times. It is an organization created and maintained by coal companies through their “coal associations,” or, in other worlds, organizations where coal companies pool their money and efforts to promote their industry and lobby our politicians. Think of it sort of like a union for the coal companies. I found all of this out by going to the West Virginia Coal Association’s website, the people behind Friends of Coal. I looked around until I found their membership roster and it wasn’t a bunch of coal miners and churches.

Look for yourself: So if I’m not supporting coal miners, who or what am I supporting? If you are supporting Friends of Coal, you are supporting the coal companies and their interests. At first, you might think that’s a good thing, but not necessarily. Here are a few reasons to reconsider your support. Coal companies are constantly seeking to reduce labor overhead in the form of wages, benefits, and workman’s compensation insurance. Ford Ids Vcm 2 Software License Crack.

The best way to do this is through mechanizing their operations and letting big machinery take over the jobs of coal miners. This would explain why coal production has reached record highs while coal mining employment has been in a near constant decline. They also require their employees to work mandatory overtime and hire temp laborers to get the same amount of work with fewer people. If you start digging around you’ll find out these company funded coal associations have well paid lobbyist who live and work full time in state capitals and in Washington DC. They also have lawyers on retainer (or in other words, full time lawyers), living and working in these places.

There is even the, a vast organization of lawyers, law firms, and law schools dedicated to these industries. Take a look through their website and tell me how a poor coal miner or Appalachian land owner has a chance to win against these Goliaths? Safety costs money and production. In order to be safe, miners have to take time to properly assess situations. They have to take time to in stall more roof bolts, properly position equipment, ensure ventilation is right, etc. Safety also requires additional equipment that must be purchased and maintained. It is also important to do proper maintenance on all of the machinery so that it remains in safe operating order.

All of this comes at the expense of time and money for the company. The more safety, the less profit, and the coal companies actively seek to block new safety legislation and. If you don’t believe me, continue reading.

It was reported how the West Virginia Coal Association sat right across from the widow and infant son of a fallen coal miner, listened to her plead for them to adopt proximity detection systems on continuous miners that would save coal miner’s lives, only to have the West Virginia Coal Association vote against the proposal., the West Virginia Coal Association is called out for its support of bill that would gut mine safety legislation in the state, and speaks against MSHA’s new rules that could end black lung. Their reason for objecting? Costs to the industry. People must realize that coal companies and their organizations are not here for our benefit.

Their primary goal is to gain support and promote legislation that makes it easier for them to rip coal out of the ground no matter the cost to miners or the people living nearby. If you spend a little time following the links I provided throughout this page, you’ll find as I have, that beneath the surface of the license plates and stickers, the banners and billboards, it’s all about the coal companies doing what they’ve always done—protecting their interests while they ship billions of dollars of coal out of the mountains. In turn, the people of Appalachia are left with broken backs, choked lungs, and no decent economy to speak of (along with pain medication abuse running rampant among our youth, a lack of clean water and badly damaged road infrastructure.) If we are to have any hope of raising our Appalachian home out of the crippling poverty and ill health that has plagued us for well over a century, we must start by realizing the cause and fighting to stop it. I can tell you without any hesitation that supporting Friends of Coal is one of the worst things someone can do for coal miners and their families, and well, anyone else living in the coalfields. Additional Reading. I must confess that I read only very little of the article prior to my comment,. My reason for contacting Friends of coal is, I am a designer of wood and coal burning stoves and furnaces primarily for the home and shop.