Summit provides stage for officials to tell coal’s story
Michael A. Sawyers Cumberland Times-News
FROSTBURG — Initiated by Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, Thursday, the Maryland Coal Summit attracted a hefty crowd of individuals who want the production and influence of the state’s coal to expand.
The summit was modeled after a similar event on the Eastern Shore dealing with Maryland’s poultry industry.
“I am tired of the coal industry being vilified and the backward thinking about coal,” Franchot said during the summit on the campus of Frostburg State University. “Coal will not be forgotten and you are not alone,” he said. “We will tell your story.”
Without naming the writer, Franchot read a letter that was included with a state income tax return, the author telling the comptroller that it was his coal-mining job that allowed him to take his family to Ocean City for one week every year.
Adrienne Ottaviani, executive director of the Maryland Coal Association, said “coal” is a four-letter word but so is “jobs.”
“We have enough coal in Maryland to provide the state with electricity for the next 200 years and to provide jobs as well,” she said. “Coal provides 51 percent of the electricity generated in Maryland. We can’t allow coal to be eliminated from the mix.”
Jim Hinebaugh, Garrett County’s director of economic development, said a coal-mining job is the top-paying work in the county at $50,000 annually. “No other job comes close to that,” he said. “And they provide great health coverage and 401K plans.”
Hinebaugh said there are 300 to 400 people employed in the county by coal mining and a minimum of 3.5 indirect jobs generated because of each mining job. He estimated the economic impact of coal in Garrett County to be in the tens of millions of dollars annually.
Even the state jobs in the Maryland Bureau of Mines exist because of coal, Hinebaugh pointed out.
Tim Carney of the Allegany County Economic Development Department discussed a variety of indirect jobs that exist because of coal, including those with the railroad, equipment operators, blasting companies, laboratories and even attorneys.
Jonathan Gibralter, FSU’s president, opened the summit and said the university owes its existence to coal miners who, in the late 1800s, saw the need for additional education and provided the funds to begin the institution of higher learning.
Dave Thomas, formerly of Mettiki Coal, but now employed by Alliance Coal LLC, said a large portion of the world lives with energy poverty.
“There are 3.6 billion people who do not have electricity,” Thomas said, pointing out that companies such as an aluminum smelter have left Maryland because electricity rates are less expensive elsewhere.
Thomas said his personal electric bill where he now lives in Kentucky is half of the Maryland bill he used to pay.
Peter Bajc, plant manager at AES Warrior Run, a coal-fired generation plant near Cumberland, said 100 to 120 trucks bring coal there each day. “AES buys 30 percent of the coal mined in Maryland,” he said.
AES also purchases tons of local limestone annually.
Franchot said he hopes that another coal event can take place in Annapolis during the General Assembly session so that false beliefs about coal held by legislators from other parts of the state can be dispelled.
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com
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