BLUEFIELD —
Coal has always been the core of all businesses in the greater Bluefield area, and the biennial Bluefield Coal Show sponsored by the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce has become a premier national showcase for new products and developments in the industry that drives the southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia economy.
Since the Coal Show is an every other year event, the chamber leadership experimented with hosting a “Coal Rally” during non-Coal Show years. The Coal Rallies drew 60-80 people, many of whom came to hear from the politicians who served on panels and served as keynote speakers. That philosophy changed in 2006 when Bill Reid, editor/publisher of “Coal News” and former EIMCO executive took over the leadership of the reorganized Bluefield Coal Symposium. This year’s Coal Symposium is Aug. 13-15.
Reid’s first coal symposium was held just a few months after the Jan. 2, 2006, Sago Mine explosion that claimed the lives of 12 coal miners. The symposium was called: “On the Road to Zero Harm,” and expert speakers addressed coal mine safety issues in a very tense environment. There were still some politicians there, but the tone of the session was decidedly focused on coal mine safety.
While the 2006 Coal Symposium was intense, the 2008 session had the makings of an educational forum with coal mine engineering students from Virginia Tech, West Virginia University and other colleges attending the panel discussions and learning real life challenges faced by the coal industry experts.
The 2010 symposium came a few months after the April 5, 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster that claimed the lives of 29 coal miners. Joe Main, Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Mine Safety and Health Administration was among the speakers during the first day of the symposium, and Don Blankenship, who was then Massey Energy chief executive officer presented his side of what happened at the mine during the symposium dinner.
“The dinner events are open to the public, and I would like to encourage local people who are not necessarily in the coal business to attend the Monday reception and dinner only, or the Tuesday reception and dinner only,” Reid said. He added that the cost for each dinner is $75.
“We have two excellent speakers for our dinner meetings,” Reid said. “The keynote speaker on Monday night is Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy, one of the largest privately-owned coal companies in the nation. Our Tuesday evening dinner speaker is Joe Craft, president, CEO and director of Alliance Resources Partners LP. Also on Tuesday, Stella Parton will perform songs from her ‘American Coal’ CD.”
Reid said that the Bluefield Coal Symposium has remained true to the theme of safety, and by so doing, has built the event into a national forum for coal mine safety. “People from 13 states attended our last coal symposium in 2010,” Reid said. “We have transformed this event from a local into a national discussion of coal mine safety with speakers from major coal companies.
“There’s no other meeting like this in the nation that is absolutely focused on coal mine safety,” Reid said. “Even though the coal industry is going through many challenges, at no time must any coal operator forget that the safety and protection of the coal miners is the most important thing.”
Marc Meachum, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce praised Reid’s efforts. “This has become a big event in the coal industry,” Meachum said. “Bill Reid has taken it to another level.”
Main is the luncheon speaker at Tuesday’s session on Aug. 14, while Bruce Watzman, senior vice president of the National Mining Association is the breakfast speaker. Other presenters on Tuesday’s morning session include John Gallick of Alpha Natural Resources; Greg Patterson of Long Branch Energy; Tom Barczak of NIOSH; David Cardy of Matrix Design Group; and Mike Berube of Strata Worldwide.
Speakers on Tuesday afternoon include Freddie Lewis of the Kentucky State Office of Mine Safety; Todd Swinderman of RToddS Engineering LLC; Chris Bise of WVU and Jim Dean of the WVU Extension.
John Eaves, president and CEO of Arch Coal will deliver the keynote address on Wednesday morning; followed by a post-break keynote address by Jimmy Brock, chief operating officer of Consol Energy; and Jim Bryja, senior vice president of Alpha Natural Resources.
Contact the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce at (304) 327-7184 for more information.
— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com
Local News
July 22, 2012
Mining safety in spotlight
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