WILLIAMSON - The annual membership banquet of the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, June 4, is shaping up as an outstanding event with a widely known coal company executive as keynote speaker.

Don L. Blankenship, a native of Stopover, Ky., who is chairman and chief executive officer of Massey Energy Company, is billed as the principal speaker but there's been no word on what his subject will be.

He has served in those roles since Nov. 30, 2000 and also concurrently held the title of president from that date until Nov. 10, 2008. He also had held all three positions with A.T. Massey Coal Company Inc., the wholly owned and sole, direct operating subsidiary, since 1992.

The banquet will feature a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. at The Brass Tree Restaurant. David Akers is now president of the chamber, although Cecil Hatfield has been president and executive director of the Coal House for a number of years. Hatfield confirmed recently that he is retiring.

Forty persons have indicated plans to attend the dinner and they are being encouraged to bring potential Chambers members to the event.

Blankenship, 59, has been frequently described as "controversial" in connection with his activities in the industry and in public life. He also is known for his participation in local and state politics, particularly in West Virginia and Kentucky.

He is a graduate of Matewan High School and earned a degree in accounting from Marshall Univer-sity in 1972. He was the recipient of that Univer-sity's "Most Distinguished Alumni" award and inducted into the Lewis College of Business Hall of Fame in 1999.

A certified public accountant, in 2002 he was inducted into the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Business and Industry Hall of Fame and recognized by the West Virginia Society of CPA's as an Outstanding Member in Business and Industry. He also was inducted into the Tug Valley Mining Institute Hall of Fame.

Blankenship joined a Massey subsidiary, Rawl Sales & Processing Co. in 1982. Since then he has served the company in a number of capacities. He also serves as a director of the National Mining Association, Mission West Virginia Inc. and is on the u.S. Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

His activities in industry, politics and other phases of community life in recent years have drawn numerous barbed comments from various sources, but Blank-enship has proved he can hold his own in any situation. Dealing with coal is just part of his responsibility as chairman and CEO for court rulings, appeals and other activity claim much of his attention.

In one rebuttal to a writer's claims of Massey Energy's assault on our homeland, Blankenship said the writer should consider the damage his untruths can cause.

"People can only be helped by truth," Blank-enship declared. "AIDS, starvation, war, and lack of clear water are just some of the real issues facing the world today. Wasting billions of dollars on a climate-change theory won't help people in their lifetime (even if it were true.) It only serves to deprive them of resources that could make their lives better."

Blankenship was further quoted in a newsletter of the Ohio Valley Enviro-nmental Coalition as saying:

"Massey Energy has endured decades of criticism and untruths in order to provide jobs for those who want to work in Appalachia. The coal industry provides low- . cost electricity to 150 million Americans. The mining and burning of coal are done continually with less pollution and even fewer accidents. Additionally, coal does not lead to war. The same cannot be said for oil.

"Today, war over oil- along with the issues of poverty, cholera, and ma-laria - among others, outranks global climate change," stated the executive of the nation's sixth biggest coal company.

There are various critics that continue to fight mountaintop removal, claiming damage of all kinds is unchecked in such situations.

Massey is said to have a third of Central Appa-lachia's proven and probable reserves. Forbes Mag-azine reported Massey mined 44 million tons of coal last year, up from 13 million in 1990. A quarter of Massey's output is metallurgical coal- high-quality stuff that can be used in steelmaking.

Whatever Blankenship chooses as his topic for the Chamber of Commerce speech, his audience is sure to be an attentive one.