Pro-coal rally draws smaller crowd than expected

Organizers of yesterday's "Friends of America" coal-industry rally prepared for 100,000 spectators, but the attendance appeared much lower. A spokesman for chief sponsor Massey Energy estimated close to 70,000 attended, Jessica Lilly and Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Radio report, but West Virginia State Police did not provide an independent attendance estimate. Davin White of the Charleston Gazette termed the attendance as "well below the 100,000 expected to show." (Gazette photo by Chip Ellis)

Regardless of the attendance figures, organizers called the rally a success. Emcee Ted Nugent began by evoking the memory of the Boston Tea Party and American Revolution as examples of Americans fighting back against oppressive governments. "I particularly like it when the British came to get our guns so we went to Concord Bridge and shot them," Nugent said. "I like dead tyrants."

Massey CEO Don Blankenship told the crowd he spent over $1 million to fund the rally and spoke against cap-and-trade legislation, called global warming "pure make-believe," and said the idea that Washington officials knew more about mine safety than he did was as "silly as global warming." (Read more)

Much of the rally focused on the impact of cape-and-trade legislation on the coal industry. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., worked with the Waxman-Marley bill's sponsors to protect the coal enabling coal usage to grow as demand for electricity increases, White reports, but despite those assurances, some of the rally audience feared the legislation would result in the mass loss of coal mining jobs. (Read more)