Welcomed Wednesday afternoon by a growing group of women in support of the coal industry, West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney encouraged the Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary to help change coal’s negative image.

He also announced that Beckley native and award-winning documentary film maker Morgan Spurlock will feature life as a West Virginia coal miner on an upcoming episode of his FX series, “30 Days.”

Raney said Spurlock is currently in Morgantown, training with the extension service to become a coal miner. Once he completes his training, he will spend 30 days living with a coal mining family and working in a Bluestone Coal mine in Wyoming County.

“I personally think it’s going to be very, very positive,” Raney said, adding that he had met with Spurlock’s production staff. “We’re going to see a West Virginia coal mine and a coal mining family on the FX channel after the first of the year.”

Spurlock will also be speaking to the West Virginia Coal Association at its annual meeting next month at The Greenbrier, Raney said.

Although that television show has the potential to reveal the coal industry through the eyes of one who works in it, other national attention has put a negative light on coal, Raney said. He called on the Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary — which has grown to nearly 100 members since its inaugural meeting less than two weeks ago — to help educate the public.

“It’s terribly important that we tell the facts, and that is that we’re mining coal with a great deal of stewardship,” Raney said.

“We’re under attack from a lot of people,” he said, naming specifically Al Gore, Kathy Mattea and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We’ve made all kinds of mistakes, ... but the important thing is that we’re addressing them,” Raney said. “We’re fixing them. ... We’re attempting to be better from an environmental standpoint. We’re attempting to be better from a reclamation standpoint. ... We’re trying to fix global warming.”

Raney criticized coal’s critics for failing to offer any realistic alternative for the 52 percent of the nation’s electricity coal supplies.

“There is no alternative unless you want a nuclear power plant in your back yard,” Raney said, after explaining there isn’t enough land for solar panels and wind turbines to produce the amount of energy coal currently does.

Raney also said West Virginia is the third most forested state in the nation and therefore the state’s abundant hardwood forests absorb more carbon than the state emits.

“We’re not perfect, not by any means. But every day, there are a whole lot of people ... working to make sure our world tomorrow is better than it is today,” he said, referring to local universities studying ways to better mine coal.

Raney encouraged the women, who met at Black Knight County Club, to fulfill their mission of influencing education and elections.

“There’s no force like a gang of women. You can have an enormous impact on those that serve in office,” Raney said.

Raney said that since mining began in West Virginia, 14 billion tons of coal have been mined; 53 billion tons remain.

“We have a lot of years in front of us,” he said.

— E-mail: bnaudrey@register-herald.com