Read the study

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A new West Virginia Coal Association study touts the industry's multibillion-dollar economic benefits to the state, but it does not attempt to account for the costs of the damage done to human health or the environment.

The study, prepared for the Coal Association by economists at West Virginia and Marshall universities, found that coal creates 63,000 direct and indirect jobs and pumps $25.5 billion into the state's economy. The industry accounts for 9 percent of the state's gross domestic product, the study said.

"Probably there is not another industry more vital to West Virginia's economy than coal," wrote WVU's Tom Witt and Marshall's Cal Kent in their report, "The West Virginia Coal Economy."

The report described what Witt and Kent called major threats to coal, including national legislation or regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and efforts by the Obama administration to limit the environmental damage from mountaintop removal mining.

Witt and Kent released their report Thursday afternoon during the Coal Association's annual symposium in Charleston, calling it the "definitive study on the coal economy in West Virginia."

Along with direct and indirect jobs, state and local tax revenues and other more commonly understood benefits, Witt and Kent argued that the industry "practices corporate responsibility" by helping to fund schools, sports teams, clubs, fairs and festivals. Such contributions "would disappear if coal were to disappear," Kent said.

Read the study

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A new West Virginia Coal Association study touts the industry's multibillion-dollar economic benefits to the state, but it does not attempt to account for the costs of the damage done to human health or the environment.

The study, prepared for the Coal Association by economists at West Virginia and Marshall universities, found that coal creates 63,000 direct and indirect jobs and pumps $25.5 billion into the state's economy. The industry accounts for 9 percent of the state's gross domestic product, the study said.

"Probably there is not another industry more vital to West Virginia's economy than coal," wrote WVU's Tom Witt and Marshall's Cal Kent in their report, "The West Virginia Coal Economy."

The report described what Witt and Kent called major threats to coal, including national legislation or regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and efforts by the Obama administration to limit the environmental damage from mountaintop removal mining.

Witt and Kent released their report Thursday afternoon during the Coal Association's annual symposium in Charleston, calling it the "definitive study on the coal economy in West Virginia."

Along with direct and indirect jobs, state and local tax revenues and other more commonly understood benefits, Witt and Kent argued that the industry "practices corporate responsibility" by helping to fund schools, sports teams, clubs, fairs and festivals. Such contributions "would disappear if coal were to disappear," Kent said.

Witt said in a later interview that the authors don't expect coal production to simply go away in West Virginia, despite the industry's concerns about climate legislation and limits on mountaintop removal.

And, the report notes consensus projections that show coal production in the state are expected to drop significantly -- 20 percent by 2030 -- regardless of what happens with climate legislation and mountaintop removal permits.

"As production declines, jobs will be lost and tax revenue will decrease," said Evan Hansen, a consultant with the firm Downstream Strategies, which follows environmental and economic issues. "It is crucial during this transition period to implement policies that help create new jobs and tax revenues so that local economies do not decline along with production."

The Coal Association report did not address that issue in any detail, though, focusing instead on outlining coal's positive benefits and the threats from environmental rules.

The report did not mention any of the new WVU studies that documented adverse health impacts from the coal industry and concluded that those impacts cost the Appalachian region more than mining provides in economic benefits. It also did not discuss a recent National Academy of Sciences report that put the "hidden costs" in adverse health effects from coal-fired power plant air pollution at $62 billion a year nationwide.

Kent said the Coal Association did not ask the authors to look at such issues.

"The study is completely useless and worthless, because it looks at the benefits and not at the costs," said Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.