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Signature Sponsor
November 14, 2024 - Below is a message from Chris Hamilton, President, West Virginia Coal Association: As a follow up to the recent membership call, we wanted to report on a few items of interest. The next couple of months promises to be busier than usual as both President-elect Trump and Governor-elect Morrisey have indicated they intend to move quickly on appointments and major policy considerations.
President Trump has already appointed a chief-of-staff in Susie Wiles, a border Czar --Tom Homan, Lee Zeldin as the new EPA Administrator, Christy Nome to head Homeland Security, Mike Waltz as National Security advisor and Elise Stefanik as UN Ambassador.
Governor-elect Morrisey has named seven co-leaders to lead his transition efforts and has formed a new 501c4 “WVProsperityGroup” a web portal for individuals with an interest to serve under his administration to make application. The seven co-chairs are:
We are sending a letter urging Governor-elect Morrisey to retain: Charlotte Lane (PSC), Harold Ward (DEP), Frank Foster (OMHST), Nick Preservati (Energy) and Randall Reid Smith (SHPO) who have all done an outstanding job in the various agencies.
If you are aware of any individual that is interested in serving under President Trump or Governor Morrisey, please let Jason or me know at your earliest opportunity.
As you know, Republicans took the US Senate and several national news groups are reporting they retained the US House of Representatives. Closer to home, Republicans took every executive office and increased their majorities in both Houses of the WV Legisalture. All but three of our endorsed candidates, including 3 House Democrats who work very close with us on coal issues, won their respective races. The State Republican Party now has 32 of 34 Senate seats and 91 of 100 House seats.
Both the State Senate and US Senate will choose a leader in December with the announced retirement of Mitch Mconnell as US Senate Majority Leader and with the defeat of current State Senate President Craig Blair.
Regarding President Trump’s transition and national policy, we are working with NMA, America’s Power and our own contacts with inroads with the Trump Team (including Gov Justice, US Senator Shelley Moore Capito and West Virginia’s National Committee Representatives. We need to provide input on Interior, EPA, OSM, FW, Labor, MSHA and Energy. Major Policy Issues under consideration include: Tax, EPA Rules and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The remainder of the year and early 2025 will be extra busy with our involvement with both transition efforts and preparing for the 2025 Regular Legislation Session which commences on February 12, 2025. The Legislature will convene on January 8 to elect the next Senate President and recess until February 12. Regarding the senate President race, a group of pro-coal, conservative Senators with Senators Randy Smith and Mike Stuart leading the way along with newly elected pro-coal Senators Chris Rose, Brian Helton and Craig Hart have forged a conservative caucus and strong run at the Senate Presidency. .
We have scheduled two meetings of our Association’s Government Affairs Committee on November 26 and December 9 to focus on the federal and state transition processes and our 2025 legislative program. Other schedule meetings and events include:
WVCA Meeting Schedule:
Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to serve on our Gov Affairs Committee.
Chris Hamilton President & CEO West Virginia Coal Association (304) 342-4153 |
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