When R.A.“Pete” Hobbs first became mayor of Ansted in 2003, he said he felt it was essential for the town to define itself and to come to a consensus on the direction Ansted should take.

“I tried to engage the entire community to find out what direction we wanted to go in,” Hobbs said. “What journey do we want to take together?”

To that end, Hobbs held a series of town hall meetings in which citizens and town leaders discussed their visions for Ansted’s future, and in the end, Hobbs says, the answer was clear.

“We believe our future is in tourism.”

At a glance, it would seem Ansted is indeed in a perfect location to position itself for its share of tourism revenue. The town lies between two National Park recreational areas, just nine miles from the New River Gorge Bridge and next door to Hawks Nest State Park. Combined, these attractions draw hundreds of thousands of people each year.

“I compare our potential here to that of the Great Smokey Mountains,” Hobbs said.

But not everyone shares Hobbs’ vision for the area. Just outside town on the backside of Gauley Mountain, Powellton Coal Co., a subsidiary of Consol, operates a mountaintop removal project, a project that Hobbs and others feel could be detrimental to the future of tourism in northern Fayette County. The question, Hobbs says, is not whether mountaintop removal is wrong or right. In fact, Hobbs says he is a supporter of coal. The question is what is the best long-term use of that property.

From the perspective of the mining community and many West Virginians, the answer to that question is the mining of coal. Coal, they say, is and always will be the backbone of the Mountain State’s economy. Consol spokesman Joe Cerenzia points out that the property in question is leased from a privately owned company, the DEP has granted the permits to mine the coal, and Powellton is operating within the limits of those permits.

“We are in the coal mining business,” said Cerenzia. “We have the right to mine our reserves under the permits approved by the state of West Virginia. Consol has very little choice but to site our operations wherever our permitted reserves are located.”

This week, these conflicting visions for Ansted’s future will collide as the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection considers whether or not to renew Powellton’s permit for the Ansted site; Hobbs and several environmental groups are trying to block the renewal, the comment period for which ends Saturday, Jan. 24.

Certainly, there can be no denying the coal industry’s importance to West Virginia’s economy, and that of Fayette County. According to industry numbers, here in the Mountain State, the coal industry pays $70 million per year in property taxes. Coal severance adds $214 million to our economy, and annual payroll from coal companies exceeds $2 billion. In Fayette County alone, six companies operate 22 sites, employ 607 people and account for over $38 million in wages annually. The Powellton site employs 55 residents and produced 300,000 tons of coal in 2008.

Nor is the demand for this coal likely to diminish. Demand for coal has risen rapidly lately due to high oil prices and increased energy uses both domestic and foreign. And as demand has increased, so has the production of mountaintop removal and other surface mining sites due to the efficiency and profitability of these processes. In West Virginia, surface mining now accounts for about 42 percent of overall production, which is up by almost 11 percent from just 10 years ago.

Hobbs doesn’t dispute the overall importance of coal to the state and national economy, but wonders how long it will last locally, and when the reserves are mined out, what happens to Ansted and northern Fayette County.

“What troubles me is what happens when the reserves are gone,” Hobbs said. “Are we ready for another boom-bust cycle, or can we do something for the people of Fayette County that will last, that has more long-term potential?”

As a boy, Hobbs saw mining camps dry up and coal companies quickly depart, leaving ghost towns where once flourishing neighborhoods stood. A drive down the Turnpike from Mossy to Sharon confirms this history as one passes Westerly, Milburn, Standard, Mahan, Kribs and several other abandoned mining towns.

“I don’t want to see that happen here,” Hobbs said, “and I have a responsibility to the people of Ansted to at least explore better possibilities for this area.

“There is a conflict when you’re asking people to come back here and bring their wealth with them and this type of mining,” he said. “No one wants to spend their vacation looking at a strip mine.”

It’s the beauty of West Virginia that attracts tourists, Hobbs says, and if that beauty is compromised, so will be the future of tourism in this area. Most of that potential business, he says, would be lost.

Consol, however, sees no reason the two industries cannot co-exist.

“That (co-existence) is what we’re working toward,” Cerenzia said.

Within the mandates of the permits are provisions for the reclamation of all areas mined, Cerenzia points out, and the company is required to make sure that the property is returned to an acceptable condition after reclamation.

“On previous occasions, we have met with the mayor and other local leaders to provide information on our mining activities near the state and federal parks,” Cerenzia said. “Using topo maps, we illustrated to them that there exists no easily available vantage points which would impede nearby natural vistas.”

But opponents of the project say there are no guarantees that the mining won’t expand beyond the current site. Powellton is currently permitted mining on about 300 acres of property on Gauley Mountain, but the surrounding 20,000 acres is privately owned property that could be mined in the future.

Even if this permit is not renewed, opponents have an uphill battle to shut the site down altogether. The area that this permit covers is approximately 97% mined out and reclamation has already started according to company sources, so of the three active sites on Gauley, two are legally permitted and fully operational.

— E-mail:ckeenan@register-herald.com