Community Braces for Powhatan No. 6 Mine Closure in December; Residents Hope for Trump Victory (Ohio)

[mountaineer]

Community Braces for Powhatan No. 6 Mine Closure in December
Residents Hope For Trump Victory
Oct 30, 2016
CASEY JUNKINS, Staff Writer
Wheeling (W.Va.) Intelligencer (excerpted)

ALLEDONIA — Mary Saffell and Liz Moskal aren’t sure how their convenience store will survive if Murray Energy Corp. fulfills its plan to close the Powhatan No. 6 Mine by the end of the year, an act which would impact nearly 500 miners and their families.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice, the southern Belmont County mine will close in December. Murray officials announced the planned closure in May, citing the facility reaching the end of its “productive life” because there are no longer any minerals to extract in an economical manner.

“It’s just awful,” said Moskal, an employee for the JLK Carryout at the interchange of Ohio 148 and Ohio 145, near the entrance to the Powhatan mine. “There won’t be any good jobs left around here, that’s for sure.”

“It will affect the whole community, that’s for sure,” said Saffell, a fellow store employee. “This is a scary thing. So many of them are close to retirement age. What are they supposed to do now?”

Near the mine, there are numerous signs supporting the candidacy of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Throughout the campaign, the billionaire entrepreneur has publicly vowed to support the coal industry, while referencing comments Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made regarding the employment of coal miners.

“Even the Democrats, 90 percent of them down here are for Trump. They want the coal mines to stay open,” Moskal said. About 40 years ago, numerous smaller coal mines dotted the East Ohio countryside. However, economic conditions and environmental concerns have left Murray’s Century Mine near Beallsville and the Powhatan mine as the only remaining underground mines in the Buckeye State.   ...

Rest of story.

[Sanguine]

Right or wrong, it is having the effect of destroying those communities and that culture.

[mountaineer]

Hillary: My Comments Saying We'd Put Coal Miners Out of Business Weren't In Context or Something
Katie Pavlich
Posted: May 03, 2016 12:45 PM
Townhall

Back in March, Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the following:  "We are going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business," she proudly proclaimed.

According to Hillary Clinton, you can have a job in the energy industry so long as it's in the so-called "green" energy sector progressives choose.

Clinton, of course, made those comments in an effort to appease her far-left, fascist environmentalist, anti-fracking, global warming alarmist, anti-fossil fuel voting base. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin was furious about the comments and her efforts to make the argument that coal mining jobs should be transferred into the renewable energy sector (which cannot survive without government subsidies) fell flat.

This week, Clinton is campaigning in coal country and she was confronted by laid off coal miner Bo Copley for her comments.  Naturally, she responded by saying her comments were out of context and that people were misusing her statement.  ...

Needless to say, audio of her saying this stupid remark is being used by many Republican candidates in eastern Ohio and in West Virginia!

[Fishrrman]

From the article:
"Murray officials announced the planned closure in May, citing the facility reaching the end of its “productive life” because there are no longer any minerals to extract in an economical manner."
and
"“These reductions are a result of depleted coal reserves and reduced coal markets, as caused by the ongoing destruction of the U.S. coal industry by President Barack Obama and his political supporters and regulatory agencies, and the increased utilization of natural gas to generate electricity,” the statement reads, in part."

Hard to tell from the statement above whether the mine in question has actually played itself out, or what.

Perhaps Murray just doesn't want to keep this one open any longer, and is saying that "there are no longer any minerals to extract in an economical manner," when the mine still has coal left in it, but would require more man-hour per ton to extract.

In other words, the mine might still be capable of paying its way and earning a profit, just not a "large enough" profit any longer for the owners.

If the coal in this one has indeed run out, wouldn't make any difference who gets elected.

Just sayin'...