Editor,

I am writing in regards to the letter published November 20, 2007, in the Huntington Herald Dispatch from Mr. Bill Price, the environmental justice resource coordinator for the Sierra Club in Charleston. I am concerned that he believes all mountaintop removal should be abolished.

Mountaintop removal and valley fill sites can serve as effective development tools. When properly planned, mountaintop mining sites have proven to be ideal locations for industrial, commercial, residential and recreational development. Post mining sites have spurred economic development in various parts of our state. For example, the FBI complex in Clarksburg is located on 986 acres of reclaimed land and provides jobs for 3000 West Virginians and approximately 85 percent of the modern day City of Weirton is built on reclaimed mountaintop. Other example sites include Logan Airport, Southwest Regional Jail, Twisted Gun Gap Golf Course, the Buck Harless Wood Products Center, and the Robert C. Byrd High School in Harrison County. The King Coal Highway is also being built on post mining land in Mingo County, which creates substantial savings of $500 million to the State of West Virginia and the economic benefits to the southern counties will be even greater.

Coal plays an important part in West Virginias Economy. The taxes paid by the coal industry and by utility companies that make electricity using West Virginia coal account for two thirds, or over 60 percent of business taxes paid in our state. The coal industry pays approximately $70 million in property taxes annually, the coal severance tax adds approximately $214 million into West Virginia economy the West Virginia coal industry provides about 40,000 direct jobs in West Virginia, including miners, mine contractors, coal preparation plant employees and mine supply companies, and the coal industry payroll is nearly $2 billion per year. Some of the coal that mountaintop mining recovers is in the 12 to 24 inch height range this coal is not recoverable with conventional mining methods this adds extra income to the states finances.

Yes, West Virginia, we need coal as we look at ways to diversify our economy. As coal becomes mined out in the future we must take advantage of working with the coal companies today to make more developable sites for the future.

Mike Mitchem

Executive Director

King Coal Highway 1-73/74 Authority