The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

December 8, 2009

Consol blames activists for mine layoffs

From Staff and Wire Reports

Consol Energy will lay off nearly 500 workers and idle a mountaintop removal mining operation near Bickmore along the Clay-Nicholas county line.

Pittsburgh-based Consol notified workers Tuesday. The action affects 104 miners at Little Eagle Coal Co. and 378 at Fola Coal Co.

The layoffs will begin Feb. 7 and be completed within 14 days.

Consol blames the shutdown on a legal challenge the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition mounted to permits granted under the federal Clean Water Act.

U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers recently suspended Fola’s permit for the Ike Fork portions of its operations. The order is effective Jan. 23.

“It is unfortunate that, at a time when reliable and affordable energy is so desperately needed to reinvigorate our economy, that the nation’s energy industries are coming under repeated assault from nuisance lawsuits and appeals of environmental regulations,” said Nicholas J. DeIuliis, Consol Energy executive vice president and chief operating officer. “It is Consol Energy’s policy to operate our coal and gas assets safely and within the framework of the laws regulating our industry, but we oppose any efforts to use them to unnecessarily impede our ability to sustain our operations.

“To put it into human terms, we are talking about the jobs of nearly 500 of our employees at the Fola operations, and the impact such legal interpretations will have on their quality of life and that of their families,” DeIuliis noted, adding that for each job in coal mining, several additional support jobs are adversely affected.

In addition, DeIuliis said that the long-term economic viability of the Fola operations remains uncertain due to adverse market conditions for the coal product mined there.

“It is challenging enough to operate our coal and gas assets in the current economic downturn without having to contend with a constant stream of activism in rehashing and reinterpreting permit applications that have already been approved or in the inequitable oversight of our operations,” DeIuliis said. “Customers will grow reluctant to deal with energy producers they perceive are unable to guarantee a reliable supply due to regulatory uncertainty. It inhibits the ability to remain competitive.”

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