West Virginia Megathread

[RogueBeaver]

WSJ on the Senate race.

[free my dawg]

I don't quite know what to think about this poll.

[IceSpear]

I don't quite know what to think about this poll.

Well if a D internal says you're up by double digits, and an R internal says you're down by double digits, I'm gonna be a moderate hero and say it's a toss up.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

West Virginia is notoriously difficult to poll for various reasons (settlement structure being a big one).

[DINGO Joe]

Two more mines (and rather large ones) in Rahall's district had WARN (impending layoff) notices issued today.

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/04/23/patriot-coal-announces-possible-major-cutbacks/

And the feds are just getting started on a corruption investigation at another mine in the district that should provide great entertainment and ample convictions

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/04/22/wvow-report-another-worker-fired-at-arch-coals-mountain-laurel-complex/

[Miles]

Detailed read from the Cook Report on how the Dems are pioneering their anti-Koch strategy. It highlights WV-03 as a main example.

[RogueBeaver]

SMC interview.

[DINGO Joe]

Mechel Bluestone, the American subsidiary of Russian miner Mechel, announced the shutdown of their met coal mines in McDowell and Wyoming, although I think they actually shutdown production late last year.  They had actually hired JP Morgan last year to try to find a buyer for the mines.  Doesn't have anything to do with Ukraine and current US-Russian disputes, but the fact that they owe alot of entities money  and are in fact Russian could lead to some jingoistic stories.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/mecheloao-brief-idINL3N0NL2DE20140429

ANR coal mine in Nicholas County is shutting down.

http://www.wowktv.com/story/25477002/subsidiary-of-alpha-natural-resources-idles-2-mines-in-nicholas-county-wv

And just across the border in Buchanan County VA, another met coal mine is dropping a shift--188 miners.

http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_69da462e-d271-11e3-801b-001a4bcf6878.html

Met coal is used for making steel and gets a higher price than thermal coal, used for electricity, but there's a glut in the global market and the price has tanked, and pretty much any met coal that was being exported from North America is now out of the money.  Met coal traditionally employs more miners per ton than thermal miners and it generates more revenue in excise taxes so it's a bit of a double whammy for the state.

[Potus]

Primary day.

[Hifly]

How well will Ojeda do in the WV-03 primary?

[DINGO Joe]

Two more mines (and rather large ones) in Rahall's district had WARN (impending layoff) notices issued today.

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/04/23/patriot-coal-announces-possible-major-cutbacks/

And the feds are just getting started on a corruption investigation at another mine in the district that should provide great entertainment and ample convictions

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/04/22/wvow-report-another-worker-fired-at-arch-coals-mountain-laurel-complex/

Two miners died last night in one of the mines that had a WARN notice issued.  The mine also had a history of safety violations.

http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140513/GZ01/140519765/1419

Apparently the accident occurred as the miners were engaging in retreat mining, which is technique used to extract some last bits of coal as a mine seam is played out and being prepped for closure.  It's regarded as riskier than most mining.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-retreat-mining.htm

And an excellent article on the issue of retreat mining.

http://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/Article.aspx?cdid=A-24915559-10797

[RogueBeaver]

Great WaPo article on the Senate race.

[DINGO Joe]

Booth Goodwin launches his war on coal (corruption):

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/05/30/feds-break-up-coal-mine-kickback-scheme/

People have asked why coal is so important to WV when there are so few actual coal miners left, and of course the answer is that it's where the money is at.  Besides the miners (who are kept to a minimum because you have to pay benefits--especially the union ones), you've got the vendors and the contractors, and then the severance taxes. 

[DINGO Joe]

McDowell county sheriff launches a tirade on the "Russians" as the death spiral continues

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/06/02/mcdowell-countys-financial-struggles-building/

[DINGO Joe]

Time for another coal update.

Cliff's issued a WARN notice on it's Pinnacle met coal mine in Wyoming County, WV.  450 jobs in danger there.

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140625/DM05/140629561/1280

Across the border in Dickenson, VA, ANR is shutting down an aging met coal mine.  121 jobs will be gone there

http://www.tricities.com/news/article_81f92a82-fdae-11e3-ac1d-0017a43b2370.html

And SNL financial has a nice summary of coal mining job losses by state/county since employment peaked in 4Q 2011.

http://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/Article.aspx?cdid=A-28396594-11046



Just reinforces how uneconomic the CAPP coal region is.

[RogueBeaver]

WaPo on Warren's visit for Tennant.

[Badger]

McDowell county sheriff launches a tirade on the "Russians" as the death spiral continues

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/06/02/mcdowell-countys-financial-struggles-building/

From reading the article, he actually seems to have a legitimate gripe.

[DINGO Joe]

McDowell county sheriff launches a tirade on the "Russians" as the death spiral continues

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/06/02/mcdowell-countys-financial-struggles-building/

From reading the article, he actually seems to have a legitimate gripe.

Well, the good news is that the Ruskies coughed up $800,000 (of 1.2 mil owed), the bad news is that just about every vendor that's being doing business with Mechel is suing for non-payment and some type of bankruptcy looks likely.  As for the part where the Chinese are gonna buy the mine, well I'd eat one of those straw hats if that happens.

I really can't tell if behind all the bluster and ranting Cappalachia actually comprehends how screwed they truly are or if stupidity and ego overrule all.

[Miles]

Romney campaiging with Caipto and Jenkins.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Bringing in Romney makes me think the state GOP feels like they have a decent chance of letting this slip away.

[eric82oslo]

Just saw a couple of interviews with Nathalie Tennant and I'm starting to really like her. She seems very smart and well-spoken.
I think she can actually poll this off, even if most polls have her down by about ten points.

[KCDem]

Just saw a couple of interviews with Nathalie Tennant and I'm starting to really like her. She seems very smart and well-spoken.
I think she can actually poll this off, even if most polls have her down by about ten points.

She's the second coming of Parker Griffith.

[eric82oslo]

Just saw a couple of interviews with Nathalie Tennant and I'm starting to really like her. She seems very smart and well-spoken.
I think she can actually poll this off, even if most polls have her down by about ten points.

She's the second coming of Parker Griffith.

Why would you say that? She being pro coal is a pretty uncontroversial stance in West Virginia. There are probably no politician more pro coal in the entire United States than the guy she wants to replace, Joe Manchin. On other issues she seems to be a pretty prototypical Democrat. She's attacking Moore Capito for being the only West Virginian in Congress to vote against a health and security protection act and her whole coal supporting thingy basically comes down to the desire to keep jobs in her home state. She wouldn't have had such a big issue with the Obama administration's anti coal regulations if only they would replace them with new jobs in renewable energy sectors, as she said in one interview. So it's more that she's a pro jobs than a pro coal politician really. I'm pretty sure that she's more liberal than Joe Manchin. Even Shelley Moore Capito sounds like a Democrat sometimes. Capito's own role model in the Senate is Lisa Murkowski, together with Susan Collins the most moderate Senate Republican there is.

[moderatevoter]

eric82oslo, she is trying to replace Rockefeller. Not Manchin.

[eric82oslo]

eric82oslo, she is trying to replace Rockefeller. Not Manchin.

Oh really? Sorry about that.