Gas and not go

Dear Editor:

Has everyone noticed that as soon as a weekend, holiday, warm weather comes down gas goes up? I am like most everyone else work five or six days a week look forward to a long weekend so I can do something else besides work I can’t afford to take a trip on theses occasions because I need to save my money to get me back and forth to work all week. Does everyone else see this pattern?
Hey senators, congressmen, Mr. President, this is the end of May. I think the next long holiday is the Fourth of July so I am putting in my request to have a long weekend as of now this should give you enough noticed that myself and other fellow Americans would like the opportunity to travel some where in the USA without taking a loan to go some place. So I am putting this notice in for myself and everyone else.

I know gas was $4 last year, but rising the price 40 and 50 cents per gallon in a couple of days is awful. So please give us a break as we are the working class paying you to look out for our interest. So senators, congressmen, and president please look out for all of us better. Because I would love to gas and go.

Pat Skeens

Williamson, W.Va.

Rahall needs better grasp of EPA actions

Dear Editor;

Congressman Nick Ra-hall has made many public statements recently about the attacks being launched against the coal industry, particularly those by the US EPA.

We appreciate assistance from our elected officials in defending the mining and use of coal, both of which are critical to West Virginia’s economy and to our nation’s security, energy independence and economic growth. However, Rep. Rahall doesn’t appear to fully appreciate the significance of the actions recently taken by EPA and the potentially devastating effect those actions could have on all mining in Appalachia. The so-called assurances that Congress-man Rahall says he has received from EPA have done little to “ensure clarity and certainty” —unless the certainty EPA promises is that permits for sizeable surface mining jobs will be nearly impossible to obtain.

Simply stated, EPA’s objection letters to five WV mining applications, one KY application, and one VA permit claim that mining causes unacceptable im-pacts on water quality and that the Corps of Engineers should deny those permits. EPA says that certain mayflies, which are intolerant to changes in water quality, won’t live in streams below valley fills and that is an indication of stream impairment. There-fore, according to EPA, mining should not be allowed because the “population shift” from mayflies to other insects is a violation of water quality standards. Some, including Congressman Rahall, pro-test that critics of EPA are exaggerating when they call this “trading jobs for may-flies.” But to the 77,000 workers in Appalachia who depend on surface mining, it’s the bitter truth.

This Administration’s EPA has elected to regulate mining in central Appa-lachia with a perspective of reckless idealism that shows an alarming disregard for the impact upon people and communities. We know that any type of land-disturbing activity such as mining will have some impact on water quality; the same can be said about construction of roads, shopping centers, industrial parks, and housing developments. However, since our state’s future depends on the ability to continue mining coal, we must have reasonable, practical and attainable water quality standards. If EPA’s demand for pristine streams will cost West Virginia its coal industry, can we afford pristine?

On May 14, Congress-man Rahall asked EPA if there was a moratorium on Corps permits. In response, EPA repeated its statement from March 24 that essentially said “no, there’s no moratorium” and went on to say that it had no objections to 42 of the 48 permit applications it had reviewed from the Huntington Dis-trict Corps office. How-ever, Congressman Rahall did not ask, and EPA did not offer, any clarification of what it will take to resolve the alleged “significant adverse impacts” so that mining can continue and workers can keep their jobs. Trading letters that simply compared numbers accomplished nothing.

EPA has not offered solutions to the issues it raised in the objection letters other than to ask the Corps to deny the mining permit. That’s not a good answer for our coal miners, our coal companies, or our state. We want and need answers and hope that our elected officials, such as Congressman Rahall, will work toward the same goal. We also hope that our elected officials will listen to the voices of the thousands of us West Virginians who draw our livelihood from the mining of coal, as opposed to the shrill cries of the smaller, but more vocal, group of anti-mining extremists who desire to end the use of coal.

Gene Kitts

Senior Vice President Mining Services

International Coal Group, Inc.

Scott Depot