W. Va. Democrats reject resolution calling for freeze on mountaintop-removal coal mine permits

The majority political party in the state where mountaintop-removal mining for coal is most prevalent is deeply divided over the issue, or at least on what to say about it. At yesterday's convention of the West Virginia Democratic Party, delegates voted 215-190 against a resolution for a freeze on new permits for mountaintop mines.

The vote ran counter to a public-opinion poll taken in 2004, which found that "more than 56 percent of West Virginians are opposed to mountaintop removal, compared to just 29 percent who support it," Veronica Nett notes in The Charleston Gazette. The Democratic polling firm of Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates took the survey for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, a group at the forefront of opposition to mountaintop mining.

Nick Busch, a delegate from Wirt County, which has coal but no mountaintop mines, "said the vote doesn't reflect delegates' true feelings about the issue," Nett writes, quoting him: "You won't find a person here that supports mountaintop removal." Busch said he and other delegates voted against the resolution, Nett reports, "because delegates were concerned it would cost the party the presidential election. He said the Republican Party would say Democrats were trying to take jobs out of the state. state Chairman Nick Casey said the issues brought up by the resolution are better addressed by the courts than by the party." President Bush carried West Virginia twice, in large measure because of his coal-friendly stance.

Daniel Chiotos, environmental caucus delegate for West Virginia Young Democrats, told Nett that the resolution would not have become part of the party's official platform, but "would have sent a clear signal to politicians in the state," Nett writes. (Read more)