a right to mine it if the land is properly reclaimed” (Montrie 2003: 119). Of course, the rhetorical power of his statement is contingent upon the implementation of “proper reclamation,” a practice that is vehemently contested until today. Surprisingly, George Titler’s words sound as if they could have come out of the mouth of a coal industry executive—not the mouth of a labor leader. The UMWA as Corporate Ally? The UMWA, at times, seems merely to have been an agent of the coal industry. The union’s inability to take strong stands on critical issues like MTR and its inability to organize mines, particularly those run by Massey (now Alpha Natural Resources), has drawn criticism from rank-and-file members and coalfield residents generally (McNeil 2011: 88-89). In the summer of 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held public hearings in regard to the EPA’s proposed power plant rule—which, if implemented, would raise carbon dioxide emissions standards for fossil fuel-powered electricity generating stations. The rule would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030 (Ward 2014). Environmental activists claimed that reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the U.S. is critical to the long-term survival of our species on the planet, as average global temperatures are steadily inching upward (Hopey et al. 2014). The UMWA organized a demonstration in Pittsburgh, PA, one of four EPA hearing locations across the country. The UMWA arranged bus transportation for thousands of miners and their families—on approximately 70 buses—from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Alabama (Ward 2014). UMWA president, Cecil Roberts, echoing West Virginia governor, Ray Tomblin, argued that the proposed carbon dioxide rule would destroy mining families across West Virginia and other coal-producing regions (Archer 2014). Not only would jobs vanish, Roberts and Tomblin argued, but the cost of
Indeed, while the big picture remains the same in the state, there are several noteworthy changes. The 2013 study found that timber management interests have become powerful players. The largest private land owner in West Virginia is currently Heartwood Forestland Fund, which controls over 500,000 (mostly surface) acres of land (ibid.). The third largest owner, pending approval of a merger, is Plum Creek Timberland, with well over 200,000 acres. Moreover, some counties that had high concentrations of land ownership in the earlier two studies now have lower concentrations, namely Barbour, Harrison, Lincoln, Mineral, and Putnam (ibid.). TABLE 3. LARGEST LAND OWNERS, LARGEST ENERGY-INTERESTED LAND OWNERS, AND THEIR SHARE OF PRIVATE LAND OWNERSHIP FOR THE WEST VIRGINIA COUNTIES WITH SURFACE MINING PRODUCTION EXCEEDING 1,000,000 TONS County Largest Land Owner Largest Land Owner’s Share of Private Land Largest Land Owner Energy Type of the Largest Land Owner Largest Land Owner’s Share of Private Land Boone Natural Resource Partners 11.4% Natural Resource Partners Coal 11.4%
Fayette Heartwood Forestland Fund 10.3% Pardee Resources Coal, oil, and natural gas 5.7% Kanawha Penn Virginia 5.9% Penn Virginia Oil and natural gas 5.9% Lincoln Heartwood Forestland Fund 4.6% Alpha Natural Resources Coal 1.3% Logan Heartwood Forestland Fund 13.1% Natural Resource Partners Coal 11.4% McDowell Norfolk Southern 22.2% Berwind Corporation Coal and natural gas 7.0% Mingo Heartwood Forestland Fund 16.7% Natural Resources Coal 2.2% Nicholas MeadWestVaco 10.2% Pardee Resources Coal, oil, and natural gas 7.2% Raleigh Rowland Land 13.0% Beaver Coal Company Coal 9.7% Webster Pardee Resources 19.2% Pardee Resources Coal, oil, and natural gas 19.2% Wyoming Heartwood Forestland Fund 25.7% Natural Resource Partners Coal 6.6% Nevertheless, energy interests still hold title to a tremendous number of acres. For instance, Natural Resource Partners of Houston, Pardee Resources, Penn Virginia, Alpha Natural Resources, and Consol Energy own some 692,550 acres of land in West Virginia (author’s calculation based on data in West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy 2013: 10). In all of the counties with production of surface tonnage greater than 1,000,000 tons per annum and all eight southern coalfield counties (there is significant overlap between the two designations), at least one of the top ten largest land owners is an energy corporation.
Williams, J. A. (2002). Appalachia: A History. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Zoller, H. M. (2009). The Social Construction of Occupational Health and Safety: Barriers to Environmental-Labor Health Coalition. New Solutions, 19(3), 289-31