Blankenship Counters Anti-Coal Activists
Mar 11 – “If successful, the political crusade against coal will devastate Appalachia’s economy,” says Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship, in an op-ed in The Hill. “The first casualties will be thousands upon thousands of good-paying jobs with good benefits.” Blankenship counters the most recent attack from professional environment activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. by laying out the hard numbers on the vital importance of coal to jobs in Appalachia and the wider national economy. Coal is responsible for “75 percent of railroad shipments and 25 percent of barge and lake carrier traffic in the United States,” says Blankenship citing a West Virginia Coal Association report. “In West Virginia, the coal industry supports 63,000 jobs and produces $25.5 billion for the state’s economy.” Read more in The Hill.
