Democratic Delegates Deal Delay to Bill That Will Return Miners to Work

Delegate Stan Shaver has had an interesting week. He is sponsoring a bill to charge seniors $25 for hunting and fishing licenses (they are currently exempt) while also trying to keep West Virginia coal miners out of work.

The bill (HB 2854) to create the new class of license for the elderly (because we don't want to miss out on this lucrative source of fee income) will be first read on Monday and probably pass the House and be sent to the Senate by the end of the week, according to the Boone Examiner.

In all honesty, this is not a measure that I have too much of a problem with, so long as the money goes back into state supported outdoor recreation, or gun classes, or something else useful. If other citizens have to pay fees, people over sixty five should as well.

However it is interesting that Delegate Shaver's bill to raise these fees will probably sail through the House while he is helping to stall the Intrastate Coal and Use bill (HB 2554. See link http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2554%20intr.htm&yr=2011&sesstype=RS&i=2554 ) Delegate Shaver (D-46) and Delegate Larry Barker (D-18) both represent areas that benefit from coal mining (Tucker, Preston, and Boone counties) yet have worked to keep HB 2554 off of the committee agenda. This will eventually prevent the bill from even being sent to the full House of Delegates for a vote.

The importance of HB 2554 is two fold. It would block mines that only sell to West Virginia customers from any federal oversight. Several mines whose operations have been prevented or suspended by the EPA can come back online with state permission. In the past, the EPA could be trusted to objectively make decisions solely based on environmental issues. The current administration has repeatedly stated its desire to end the coal industry and is using the EPA to further that end. When Congress refused to create limitations that will harm the coal industry, Obama's administration signalled its willingness to ignore Article 1 Sectioon 1 of the Constitution ( http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Constitution.html ) and write its own law.

The passage of the Intrastate Coal and Use Act would put West Virginia miners back to work and result in the collection of more tax revenues. Since our state needs to extra income gathered from elderly hunters and fishermen, it could certainly use the revenue from coal miner incomes and coal operations. Additionally, West Virginia and other states need to send a message to Obama and his federal cronies that they are violating the Constitution by overstepping legal limits on their power. States must defend their prerogatives under the Tenth Amendment.

HB 2554 has bipartisan support and will put West Virginians back to work if passed by both houses of the Legislature. If our state needs more revenue and jobs, let's push through a bill to create work and business as quickly as we push through a bill to charge seniors fees to hunt and fish. Miners and others who support jobs in this state need to ask their legislators a question. Do you support Barack Obama's War on Coal, or do you support West Virginia and its coal miners and operators?

Which side are you on?