The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce's 73rd annual meeting and 2009 West Virginia Business Summit is scheduled for September 2 to 4 at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs.

The coal-specific portion of the forum will be held on Friday, the third and final day of the event, with one highlighted panel on Preserving the West Virginia Coal Industry.

Kicking off the day’s agenda will be a presentation on the Economic and Fiscal Importance of West Virginia’s Coal Industry, by Bureau of Business and Economic Research director and West Virginia University business and economics associate dean Dr Tom Witt and Marshall University business and economic research vice president Dr Cal Kent.

International Coal Group senior vice president of mining services Gene Kitts will then take the podium with EPA’s Attack on the Coal Industry, which local media have said will include comments the executive made during recent Senate testimony.

“The indicator the US Environmental Protection Agency uses for measuring the quality of (streams) is the existence of certain types of aquatic insects,” Kitts explained to news stationWVNS.

“They are using this criterion, which isn’t supported by state water quality standards, to claim that mining activity is causing a significant adverse impact on water quality. Our argument is that the state is the entity that should be interpreting the narrative water quality standards, and that the state has to make the judgment calls as to whether an activity is allowed or not allowed based on potential impact.”

Wrapping up the coal roundtable will be US Chamber Institute for 21st Century Energy climate change and technology vice president Steve Eule, who will speak about Federal Climate Change/Cap-And-Trade. The television outlet said Eule’s speaking outline included the Waxman-Markey bill and the versions of the proposal that are now being made in the Senate following the House approval this June.

“I don’t think people have an appreciation for how much has to be done to reduce emissions by 17 per cent by 2020 and by 83 per cent by 2050,” Eule told WVNS, noting that one potential reduction technology, carbon capture and sequestration, was not yet ready.

“There’s no regulatory framework at this point and that’s got to be developed,” he said.

“There are liability issues, big pipeline systems will be needed to inject carbon dioxide into appropriate geologic formations – so there’s a lot of things that have to fall into place. I think we’re still 10 to 15 years away from commercially viable carbon capture and sequestration technology.”

Other topics on the event’s schedule include worker’s compensation, and energy and the environment – the latter headlined by a presentation on Cap-And-Trade Legislation by US Representative Shelley Moore Capito.

For more information on the forum, visit the West Virginia Chamber’s website.