Stories raise questions about just how important the coal industry really is to Southwest Virginia

Monday we excerpted a Politico story about Republicans using fears about jobs in coal country against incumbent Democrats in the region. Now a Washington Post story focusing on Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher of Southwest Virginia has raised some new issues. "Voters in Virginia's 9th Congressional District are mad that the government has spent hundreds of billions to fix an economy that seems only to deteriorate around them," Amy Gardner writes for the Post. "They're fearful of a federal takeover of health care. They're petrified that proposed emissions limits would destroy the coal industry that provides most of the region's jobs."

Whoa, say Bill Bishop and Tim Marema of the Daily Yonder, who point out Bureau of Economic Analysis data showing that coal mining employs many in Wise County, focal point of the Post story, but the industry hires fewer people than retail trade (14. 1 percent) or government (21.7 percent). "Instead of the complex reality, however, we get the rural stereotype," Bishop and Marema write. "Appalachians are coal miners, right? After all, aren’t most Kansans farmers? (No.) Aren’t most folks in Maine lobstermen (No again). Most Texans cowboys? (See previous parenthetical statements.)" (Read more)

Then there is this story from Debra McCown of The Bristol Herald-Courier asserting that a six-county region in southwest Virginia is doing better economically than the surrounding region and nation as a whole, thanks mainly to coal. McCown's source is the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, which credits "the relative prosperity to a combination of coal and natural gas, with a growing high-technology industry and the construction of a coal-fired power plant." Even VCEDA's profile of Wise County, part of the coalition, reports natural resources and mining employ 1,858 while trade transportation and utilities employ 2,748 and education and health service employ 4,097 in the county. VCEDA reported the region's relative economic prosperity was because the "coal industry has been strong, professional business services are growing and construction is showing growth as well," in a news release McCown provided to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. (Read more)