Mine Safety Technology Consortium and the National Coal Heritage Area to present a historical diorama on mining practices in West Virginia
Montgomery WV, April 16, 2008:
The Mine Safety Technology Consortium and the National Coal Heritage Area will present a traveling historical diorama detailing the historical changes in the mining industry in West Virginia. “Coal Mining in West Virginia: Then and Now” demonstrates the progression of mining technology from the early hand-loading days to the modern machine era. An illustrated timeline traces the development of underground and surface mining from the 1850s to the present. A scenic diorama contrasts underground mining processes from the early 1900s with the massive earth-moving equipment used today in surface mining. The display will be housed in the lobby of Davis Hall on the campus of the Community and Technical College at WVU Tech in Montgomery.
“The goal of this display,” said Christy Bailey, executive director of the National Coal Heritage Area, “is to give students and the general public a better understanding of how coal mining has changed through the years. In particular, we hope to show how the sheer scale of mining has grown so dramatically over the last 60 years.”
“The Mine Safety Technology Consortium is pleased to assist the National Coal Heritage Area in promoting the history of coal mining in West Virginia,” stated Dennis Jarvis II director of the Mine Safety Technology Consortium, “Increasing awareness and understanding of the rich heritage of the industry allows focus on the importance of innovations and improved safety in the mining industry”.
The diorama will be open and free to the public from Monday April 28th to Monday May 5th in the lobby of Davis Hall on the campus of the Community and Technical College at WVU Tech in Montgomery. A light reception and overview of the display will begin at 11:30 on Monday April 28, 2008.
The National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA) is one of 32 nationally designated heritage areas. It represents a part of the growing effort by the National Park Service to develop resource protection initiatives for areas of national importance that rely on partnerships and private ownership rather than the traditional methods of federally owned parklands. The mission of the National Coal Heritage Area is to preserve, protect, and interpret lands, structures, and communities associated with the coal mining heritage of southern West Virginia. The NCHA includes the counties of Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh, Summers, Wayne, Lincoln, Wyoming and parts of Kanawha. An initiative of Congressman Nick J. Rahall II, the National Coal Heritage Area was officially designated as a national heritage area through the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 and is managed by the National Coal Heritage Area Authority.
The Mine Safety Technology Consortium is a public private partnership involving business owners, industry, government leaders, and educational professionals. MSTC is a principal component of a parent project currently under way at Marshall University’s Center for Environmental, Geotechnical, and Applied Sciences and is supported by a $2 million grant for the federal Economic Development Administration and the assistance of Congressman Nick J Rahall, II. MSTC was created to support three main objectives: address mine safety and health, economic development and job creation in West Virginia. The MSTC steering committee is chaired jointly by Dr. Beverly Jo Harris, president, the CTC @ WVU Tech, and Dr. Tony Szwilski, director of CEGAS and interim dean of the College of Information Technology and Engineers at Marshall University. Other members of the consortium include: Department of Mining Engineers at West Virginia University; Arch Coal; West Virginia Coal Association; Consol Energy; West Virginia Development Office; International Coal Group; Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing; West Virginia Manufacturers Association; ISR Inc.; United Mine Workers of America; Office of Miner’s Health, Safety and Training.
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