Lt. Governor Makes Stop in Grundy Looking for New Ideas

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
  The challenges facing Virginia and the ideas Virginians have to meet those challenges were discussed Friday in Grundy as Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling made a stop at the Appalachian School of Law on his 100 Ideas for the Future of Virginia initiative.
  The Grundy stop was just one of many on the southwest leg of his “IdeaRaiser” tour, which in the months to come will find the lieutenant government traveling across the state to meet with business leaders, political leaders, civic leaders and everyday citizens and to talk with them about the issues.
  “If we want to make sure that the Virginia we leave to our children and grandchildren is even better than the Virginia we inherited from our parents and grandparents, we have some work to do,” Bolling said. “Now is the time to roll up our shirt sleeves and begin working to build a better Virginia.”
  The 100 Ideas initiative focuses on key issues including public education, higher education, transportation, public safety, healthcare, the environment, fiscal reform and government reform. The idea for the IdeaRaiser, he said came from a successful initiative launched in Florida by that state’s House Speaker Marco Rubio.
  Buchanan County Republican Party Chairman Jerry Lester introduced Bolling to the small crowd which attended the ASL event.
  As Bolling stepped forward to speak, he apologized for the fact he was late arriving in Grundy, noting he and his aides had gotten stuck behind a coal truck making its way across the mountain.
  Bolling said he viewed it all as “commerce in action.”
  He noted that while in Cedar Bluff the day before he had the opportunity to visit Cedar Bluff Elementary School, where he had attended school as a youth. He took his report card with him to show a group of third graders with whom he met and he said what he told them was, “you are only limited by the limitations you put on yourself.”
  He spoke briefly about what it is like to be a Republican lieutenant governor with a Democrat governor, and said that while he and Gov. Tim Kaine do not always agree on the issues, Kaine does have his heart in the right place.
  Bolling noted there are several messages which citizens in the commonwealth need to know, the first being that Virginia is a great place to live, work and raise a family. He talked about the diversity present in the state from the coalfields of Southwest Virginia to the suburbs of D.C.; from ocean beaches to farmlands and the Shenandoah Valley.
  The second message, he said is that just because Virginia is great today doesn’t mean it will always be that way and it’s something he said cannot be taken for granted. He talked about the importance of facing public education challenges and higher education challenges to allow today’s students to be able to compete in what is now a global marketplace.
  Skyrocketing college tuitions, he said, are making college today even harder to afford.
  Transportation he said will continue to be a challenge and he said needs across the state are plenty and varied as well.

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CONSOL Discharge Pre-Hearing Meeting Slated for June 14

by Scotty Wampler
Staff Reporter
  The location of a pre-hearing conference regarding the appeal of the decision to allow Consolidation Coal Company to discharge mine water into the Levisa River is being contested by Buchanan County.
  The conference, requested by CONSOL, is currently scheduled to be held June 14 at the Big Stone Gap office of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.
  Buchanan County Assistant County Attorney Lee Moise said the county has filed a petition in Buchanan Circuit Court asking for the conference to be held in Buchanan County.
  "It should be held here," he said, noting his objection.
  During another pre-hearing conference in December, Moise noted statutes are clear on the issue of venue, noting that cases should occur where those opposing it reside; where business is conducted; and where the property is located. In this instance, Moise said, clearly all three conditions are met and as such, he said, Buchanan County is the proper venue for the case.
  Moise confirmed Tuesday the county filed the formal petition during the first week of April. No responses had been returned as of this writing.
  "Right now, we're in the wait-and-see stage," he said, adding he doesn't expect to receive any responses until the end of April.
  At the pre-hearing conference, part of the appeals process for the discharge permit, DMME Hearings Officer Tom McCarthy will hear argument on the clarification of issues that will be considered at an unscheduled, formal administrative hearing later in the year.
  The permit, originally granted by DMME last year, will allow CONSOL to discharge mine water from Buchanan No. 1, which has been stored in VP-3, directly into the Levisa River near Poetown. Concerns in the case have ranged from those who are concerned because of the high concentration of chlorides or other metals and minerals in the mine water, to those who are concerned about what impact the water being stored in VP-3 will have on coal seams at VP-3 and the future mine-ability of that coal.
  Construction to place the diffuser pipe which will ultimately discharge the mine water into the river began earlier this month.