Nov 22, 2015 3 min read

The lights at Emerald Mine near Waynesburg still illuminate the Greene County sky, but the machinery that produced tons of coal for nearly four decades is now quiet.

Just as the hum of those machines is now gone, so too are the nearly 300 jobs that Alpha Natural Resources employed at the mine in 2014.

The closing of Emerald earlier this month was not a surprise, since it had been announced more than a year ago that the mine would cease operations as the company finished mining coal reserves that were still deemed profitable to extract. But the closing is a punch to the gut both financially and psychologically for a region that prides itself on coal mining.

Waynesburg Borough Council President Charles Berryhill can still see the silos and conveyor belts from his home and called the mine a “landmark” for the area. He, along with many others, is sorry to see the region lose the jobs that supported many families since the operation opened in 1977.

“Coal has been the foundation of Greene County for generations,” he said. “It put many families into the middle class and enabled them to send their kids to college.”

It also provided sizable financial contributions to the region through tax dollars to local governments and charitable contributions to local nonprofit organizations.

That loss can’t be understated, as the charitable groups now must search for new funding streams to meet their annual goals. The loss in tax revenue to area townships and school districts is still being calculated and may not be know for years.

Meanwhile, there are hard feelings from many of the remaining 200 miners furloughed earlier this month who feel they are not being given a fair opportunity to work at other Alpha operations through the union’s “panel rights” process that is supposed to hire current workers over new employees. Those sour emotions bubbled to the surface last Monday during meetings to provide the newly laid-off miners information about unemployment benefits and various career options.

“I think we got the shaft,” said Raymond Glaspell of Grafton, W.Va., who worked at the mine for 12 years.

Some hope to find employment with other mining operations – or even with Alpha at its Cumberland Mine – while many others plan to enroll in training opportunities to begin a new career. The latter option appears to be the one with the brightest future in a bleak market.

The low price of natural gas and new federal clean air regulations are putting a strain on the coal mining industry.

As noted in Sunday’s story about Emerald’s closure, other mines have been shuttered in recent decades, but this one feels different, as it comes during an uncertain era for the mining industry.

Gone are the days in which the closing of one mine would still mean those jobs could easily be transferred to a new operation.

Hopefully, these miners will take full advantage of any training opportunities to retool themselves for a new career.

Times are changing, and Greene County – just like these miners – must adjust accordingly.