The Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce held a forum on coal Thursday.
The audience was filled with men and women who make a living in the coal industry as well as environmental activists, politicians and even a geology professor.
Senior vice president of the International Coal Group, Gene Kitts, stood behind a podium to give his presentation, entitled, "Why all the fuss?" In it he criticized the EPA’s actions.
He says that if the industry is forced to comply with these regulations, the mountain top removal sites in West Virginia would disappear and so would the jobs. He also criticized the EPA’s study released in November that pointed out the environmental dangers of UNDERground mining.
"Back in November they were saying, 'hey underground mining is bad also," he said. "I’m not sure what’s that’s going to leave us in West Virginia."
Kitts says he wanted to inform the business community about threats to coal industry from the Obama administration. One thing in particular was the EPA’s new scrutiny of water quality at mountain top removal sites.
"Blocking mining activity in order to protect the existence of a specific may fly and alleging that the loss of that may fly rises to a level of violation is something that most people don’t know is happening," he said. "When you frame it as trading jobs for mayflies people take a real interest."
Environmental groups have suggested a wind farm for Coal River Mountain, but Kitts doesn’t see that happening.
"Somebody shows up with the money to put in a wind farm more power to ya," he said. "But until that happens we’re going to be mining coal."
Some audience members suggested becoming an "energy" company instead of just a coal company. Kitts says, that will never happen either.
"Most of the coal companies operating in West Virginia are publicly traded corporations," he said. "Asking a company whose expertise is coal mining to try to turn into something in addition to that is not something that most investors would be comfortable with. They want us to focus on our core abilities and capabilities."
But it was toward the end of the Q & A that Kitts recieved a round of applause from the audience.
"We are heavily regulated. You can sit there and smirk but you've never lived a day in my shoes," Kitts said.
Some audience members chuckled as they applauded.
Eric Autenreith was one of the audience members. He says Kitts is oversimplifying the situations by saying it’s jobs versus mayflies.
"When you present it that way, of course human lives and jobs seem much more important than the life of the mayfly," he said. "However, mayflies are harpengers are like the canaries in the coal mine. They are the canaries in the environment and humans live in the environment. When stream quality declines it is likely that the quality of life is likely to decline. That’s why it’s important."
But he says the speech wasn’t a surprise.
"People in this room these industry executives acknowledge there is an end to coal mining in this state. The resource is limited," he said. "One guy said 'well if I only get 20 more years out of coal that'll be great for me.' Well good for him ... what’s left?"
Autenreith says he’d like to see industry leaders acknowledge the water problems created by the industry. He has lived in West Virginia for 25 years. He says the jobs created don’t make up for the moon scaped land and poverty in the state. He blames coal.
"In the past the coal industry has taken advantage of the poor legal system, the poverty, the poorly educated population, the good ol’ boy political network: they've taken advantage of it," he said. "It has perpetuated an impoverished state."
As the crowd dwindled, many people took advantage of the free croissants and coffee. There were even a few activists cashing in on the free breakfast provided by Beaver Coal Company.
The Chamber is expected to have more forums on other topics in the future. Gene Kitts says he plans to continue to talk to communities in southern West Virginia.
"We had a wide range of opinions. Several folks did not agree with the message I brought," he said. "But it triggered I think a healthy debate that we actually need much more of in this state because our issues are so serious that it demands compromises on occasion and we can’t compromise if we don’t understand what all's at stake."