Jul 31, 2016 4 min read

In the past, when the coal mining industry faltered, there was always the expectation it would eventually come roaring back better than before.

Even during economic downturns, miners who lost their jobs when a mine closed usually could find a similar position at a nearby operation. A union job in the coal mine meant good pay, excellent benefits and a pension that would offer financial security long after a worker retired.

But times have quickly changed and a harsh new reality is setting in for Greene County.

More than half of the 235 miners who lost their jobs last November when Emerald Mine closed are still searching for work. Some want to stay in the industry and are waiting patiently to be recalled to work at neighboring Cumberland Mine when positions there open.

Others are training for new careers, or searching for jobs in construction or welding. Some retired early and are beginning to draw from their pensions sooner than they had expected.

“People have that mentality – and they’ve lived it – that layoffs are temporary,” said Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, who worked in the mine for 40 years. “But times have changed. It’s not the same world.

“Reality is punching us in the face.”

The toughest reality to accept right now is no jobs in this area will pay anywhere close to the $32 per hour a union job in the mines offered the average worker. That’s why so many miners remain unemployed and are still searching for employment.

But the only option now is to move on, and various job-training agencies are trying to help unemployed miners do just that.

Dave Baer, a peer counselor with Southwest Training Services, worked at Emerald until the layoffs. He, too, struggled to find a job before taking a hefty pay cut in April to work with the job training services program in Washington and Greene counties. He needed a job and Southwest Training Services needed someone who could relate to unemployed miners.

He, along with fellow peer counselor David Serock, are invaluable resources to motivate the unemployed and point them toward training opportunities or a new career. “A lot of guys wouldn’t talk to anyone else except me,” Baer said. “I’m just like them. I’m a coal miner, just like them. They guys are saying now they didn’t know how good they had it (working in the mines).”

A grant from Southwest Training is giving each eligible worker an $8,000 stipend to attend college classes or retrain in another field. An additional $7,000 from the United Mine Workers will bolster those options.

As difficult as it might be for many to accept, it’s time for the region to move beyond coal and diversify by bringing in new industries.

“Coal doesn’t regenerate itself. In some capacity, the coal industry will be here, but we need to find other options when it comes to business and industry,” Zimmerman said. “We should’ve been looking for other ways to diversify ourselves.”

What that is will be up to local and county officials. The most natural replacement is the natural gas industry, which is poised for a rebound next year after a prolonged downturn.

But there also should be a concerted effort to promote tourism in Greene County. The extension of Greene River Trail along the Monongahela River, a new park that is being built around Wisecarver Reservoir in West Waynesburg and major improvements to Ryerson Station State Park can make Greene County a tourist destination for the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.

There also is an opportunity to capitalize on Greene County’s proximity to Morgantown, W.,Va., and booming West Virginia University. Why not zone areas around Mt. Morris to encourage new neighborhoods or commercial development?

It won’t bring back some of the high-paying jobs that were found in the coal mines, but it would raise the standard of living in Greene County and could attract others to invest in the area.

As difficult as it might be to accept, the coal mining industry is in decline. Now is the time to offer the next generation of children growing up in Greene County an opportunity to live here and thrive.