[Hoot Gibson]

^I was talking about the Wyoming jobs. I also thought Montana, but apparently they don't produce as much as I thought. With Wyoming producing 3x more coal than KY or WV, it would be a good state for someone that mines to migrate to. You name me crusading against these delinquent, unsafe companies, when the coal miners and the good companies should be rallying against them, not taking up for them. The unsafe, dirty companies are the ones bringing the bad name to all coal.

It makes no difference to Obama and his allies like the Lexington Herald-Leader editorial staff whether companies operate safely or not. They have been going after good companies for years. I have seen how the H-L twists facts first hand, having been present during an interview and then read the resulting article.

Although Wyoming produces far more coal than Kentucky or West Virginia, it does so with far fewer coal miners. The reason that most, if not all of the coal is stripped and the stripping ratios (overburden to coal) are much lower than in the Central Appalachian field. The coal is inferior in most respects as most of it it sub-bituminous, with a high moisture, and low BTU content (although it is generally very low sulfur coal). Montana and Alaska both have abundant coal reserves but mining conditions are much less favorable and transportation more problematic than it is in the PRB of Wyoming.

Mining conditions are so much more favorable in Wyoming surface mines than in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia that the 120+ ton trucks that are used to move rock in EKY and WV are used for hauling coal in the western mines. The large electric shovels that are used in the east to load overburden onto trucks are used to load coal in the west and large draglines are used to remove overburden.

West Virginia alone employs more coal miners than all of the coal mines located west of the Mississippi River combined. The main reason is the favorable mining conditions in the west and the fact that Central Appalachian coal remains the best quality coal in the world by a wide margin.

Coal mining jobs are far less plentiful outside of Central Appalachia than you have been led to believe.