Tom Rathbun
Tom Rathbun
frost meeting
The supervisors and FROST requested a meeting with us when we neared the end of the process.
asked discuss frost known meeting private process review trouble
The supervisors and FROST had requested a private meeting at the end of the review process to discuss what was going to be in the permit. We were doing what we were asked to do. If we had known the trouble this would cause, we wouldn't have done it that way.
answer asking explain law legal meeting officials opinion opportunity stands sunshine
In the opinion of our legal counsel, an informational meeting does not violate the Sunshine Law. We were not asking township officials to take an action. This was an opportunity to explain where (the permit) stands so we can answer questions.
awful looking people problem solution time
There are an awful lot of people that have put time into making this happen, people who aren't looking at the problem and complaining, but looking for a solution to the problem.
clean creating good material money soon taxpayers
You have a material that can be used as fuel. As soon as you get the material out of the stream, it (the stream) improves. If we can clean streams while creating electricity, and it's not costing the taxpayers any money to clean up these streams, that's a good thing.
review welcome
We welcome any independent review of what we do.
accident habits happen learn mining repeat sure work
Mining is dangerous, but it is work habits that make it unsafe. When there's an accident you need to learn from it, so you can make sure it doesn't happen again. You learn from the accident so it doesn't repeat itself.
filled kid lined mountain orange rivers trees
Mountain streams and rivers that were orange when I was a kid are now filled with fish, are now lined with trees and rhododendrons, and that's progress.
amended bigger concern despite management several
Management was a bigger concern to us than the finances. The reclamation just wasn't being done despite several amended agreements.
mining money touch work
We need something that's going to work for the Appalachian states; any place there was mining before the 1970s, there's a real need for reclamation. And that money still only cleans up higher-priority sites; it doesn't even touch on all the non-coal quarries in need of reclamation.
appreciate based bias faces industry mining modern
I think they appreciate that; our modern mining industry sometimes faces a lot of anti-mining bias based on things that were done in the past.
meets mining needs permanent state
What we want is to find a more permanent arrangement, a long-term reauthorization (of the fund) that meets the needs of a state with our mining history.
site work
Work at that site has just come to a standstill.
addressing continue federal looking money wait
We're not going to wait around for federal money to continue addressing these problems. We're looking at other options.