**EXHIBIT 31.1**CERTIFICATIONI, Keith E. Alessi, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this Amendment No. 2 to the AnnualReport on Form 10-K/A of Westmoreland Coal Company;  2. Based on my knowledge, this report does notcontain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state amaterial fact necessary to make the statements made, in light ofthe circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this report;  3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements,and other financial information included in this report, fairlypresent in all material respects the financial condition, resultsof operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, theperiods presented in this report;  4. The registrant’s other certifying officer and Iare responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosurecontrols and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (asdefined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for theregistrant and have: a) Designed such disclosure controlsand procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensurethat material information relating to the registrant,including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known tous by others within those entities, particularly during theperiod in which this report is being prepared;  b) Designed such internal controlover financial reporting, or caused such internal controlover financial reporting to be designed under oursupervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding thereliability of financial reporting and the preparation offinancial statements for external purposes in accordancewith generally accepted accounting principles;  c) Evaluated the effectiveness of theregistrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this report our conclusions about theeffectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end ofthe period covered by this report based on suchevaluation; and d) Disclosed in this report anychange in the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recentfiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter inthe case of an annual report) that has materially affected,or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and 5. The registrant’s other certifying officer and Ihave disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internalcontrol over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors andthe audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (orpersons performing the equivalent functions): a) All significant deficiencies andmaterial weaknesses in the design or operation of internalcontrol over financial reporting which are reasonablylikely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability torecord, process, summarize and report financialinformation; and  b) Any fraud, whether or notmaterial, that involves management or other employees whohave a significant role in the registrant’s internalcontrol over financial reporting.        Date: March 17, 2008 /s/ Keith E.  Alessi   Name:  Keith E.  Alessi   Title:  President and Chief