By Quenton King

October 14, 2025 - For the second month in a row, I find myself writing about a sham press conference held under our golden dome in Charleston. 

Last Monday, Republican members of the Legislature gathered with West Virginia Coal Association President Chris Hamilton and Attorney General J.B. McCuskey to heap praise on President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to pretend coal will make a lasting comeback. Recently the administration announced it would open up millions of acres of public lands for coal mining and dedicate over $600 million for coal plant upgrades across the country. 

Too bad last week’s press conference to discuss the Trump proposal was short on actual plans, and too long on falsehoods and misconceptions to convince West Virginia voters that they’re doing something to help the mining industry, coal miners and West Virginia overall. 

The West Virginia Republican Party hold a news conference to praise the Trump administration’s investment in coal at the state Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on Oct. 6, 2025.

Photo courtesy of the West Virginia Republican Party

Normally I’d use this space to explain why coal can’t revive in the way West Virginia officials want you to think. Lately there has been great local and national reporting about the cost of West Virginia’s reliance on expensive coal fired-power as well as the global rise in renewable energy. This week the New York Times reported that wind and solar produced more power in the world than coal for the first six months of 2025. 

Simply put, our elected officials are trying to score political points by misleading the public about the potential for coal to power West Virginia. Actually, the potential does still exist. But it will be at great expense to all of us who pay electricity bills. Even our utilities, Appalachian Power and Mon Power, don’t see a future in which coal power is king. Also, the $625 million investment they tout won’t go very far. It can cost tens of millions to upgrade aspects of a coal power plant. 

I’d rather spend the bulk of this discussing something McCuskey said that really struck a nerve with me. “And this president, for the first time in a very long time, can look at every single coal miner in the face in this country and say I respect you, I value you, and what you are doing is a patriotic duty that is designed to rebuild this country’s superiority on the world stage,” he said. 

I work on black lung policy in my day job, and I have the privilege of meeting and working with coal miners with black lung and their families. In case you didn’t know, rates of black lung disease are worse than it has been in decades. It’s a terrible, incurable disease, and the people I work with are advocating for stronger protections for the current and future generations of coal miners. 

I don’t agree that this president and the federal or state governments are able to look miners and coal communities in the face and say they value them. If so, why haven’t they passed legislation to raise the monthly black lung stipend for miners who are too sick to work? Just last month, West Virginia Watch published a commentary from the vice president of the Black Lung Association. She wrote about how the One Big Beautiful Bill has a tax break for coal mining that ironically will be worse for black lung disease because it will likely lead to less money going to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.  

Why is the Trump administration not fighting to preserve the silica dust rule that would protect coal miners? Silica is highly toxic and has been killing Appalachian coal miners (and other occupations that are exposed to the dust). The rule is currently on hold due to a lawsuit from the mining industry and the Trump administration hasn’t indicated that it’s interested in strongly defending it. That’s why coal miners and the Black Lung Association are going to rally in Washington D.C. today to demand action. 

Our state lawmakers, governor, attorney general and congressional representatives have all been mostly silent on actually trying to tackle black lung disease, which, again, is at its highest levels in years and it will likely get worse. Every year, the Legislature invites coal miners to come to the capitol for Black Lung Awareness Day. And every year, they fail to pass legislation to improve the state compensation system for miners with black lung. 

So when officials stand in front of the cameras to say they care about coal, I have to ask if they actually care about who is mining it. Even if it turns out that coal “comes back” and we have coal power plants for decades to come, what will they do to actually ensure the health and well-being of the coal miners? Starting with being honest to West Virginians, as well as making commitments to reduce black lung disease and mining accidents is a good start.