Blagojevich administration officials join in groundbreaking of new $1 million coal miner training and safety facility
INA, IL – Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today commended members of the Rend Lake College Board of Trustees and former President Mark Kern for their leadership in helping to revive Illinois’ coal industry. The school broke ground today on a new $1 million dollar coal miner training and safety facility. Officials with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources joined civic and college officials today at the groundbreaking ceremony on behalf of the Governor.
“As we prepare for a new era of growth in coal production, Illinois must train a new generation of professionals to be high-productivity miners while sustaining Illinois’ safety record, a record which is the envy of the mining industry throughout the nation,” Governor Blagojevich said.
Furthering his pledge to keep the Illinois coal industry vibrant and coal miners safe, Governor Blagojevich earlier this summer announced a $1.07 million grant for Rend Lake College to design, engineer and construct the new 20,000 square-foot mine training and safety building. The facility will serve as the center for training for new coal miners as well as for required in-service training for working miners. It will include classroom and office space and operational coal mining equipment, such as continuous miners, roof bolters and shuttle cars. About 50 percent of the space will be devoted to a simulated underground coal mine.
“Illinois coal is attracting renewed interest as the industry moves forward with advancing research and development of clean coal technologies, of which Illinois continues to play a significant role. It is now even more critical that we prepare the next generation of miners and continue to invest in emerging technologies as demand continues to grow,” Rep. Kurt Granberg (D-Mt. Vernon) said.
Rend Lake will join Illinois Eastern Colleges as a major training base for those seeking to enter the mining field. The Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals, a division of the Department of Natural Resources, is projecting 2,000-plus new miners will be needed for the coal industry by 2015. As an example, Peabody Energy is preparing to open its new Lively Grove mine in Washington County in 2009, and is expected to hire more than 300 miners to produce coal at the mouth of Peabody’s new Prairie State Generating Station.
Rend Lake, which reinstated its coal miner training curriculum in 2006, will use state money to supplement $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Labor under the President's Community-Based Job Training program. Rend Lake is one of 69 community colleges across the nation that will be funded under the program. The federal money will be used largely to equip the facility, which is being named for Kern, who retired as RLC president at the end of June.
The state grant is being provided through the Illinois Coal Competitiveness Program, which selects projects based on several economic criteria, including the creation or retention of jobs, the deployment of clean coal technology, the private investment dollars leveraged and the overall modernization of operations to sustain coal mining in Illinois for the future. This grant program, redesigned by Gov. Blagojevich in 2003, provides up to 25 percent of the cost of each project. The program has provided $56.8 million in funding, which has leveraged $415.5 million in private investment over the last four years.
“The target we set in our grant application was to produce 420 students trained in mine construction and coal production skills over three years. With the development of this new facility and the recent reinstatement of our coal miner training curriculum, we’re creating more career and training options for our students,” said RLC Interim President Charley Holstein. “We also recognize the significance of this facility for Illinois’ coal industry by helping to ensure that Illinois remains an industry leader in mine training and safety and continues to build a strong, qualified and well-trained workforce.”
Despite the shutdown of two large, older mines in Wabash and Macoupin counties, Illinois produced nearly 32.3 million tons of coal in 2007, down slightly from 2006 but above the average for the past five years. In April 2008, the state also completed five consecutive years of operations without experiencing a fatality in either its coal or aggregate mining operations.
In response to mining tragedies elsewhere in the United States, Governor Blagojevich proposed and enacted the Illinois Miner Act of 2006, which requires Illinois coal producers to provide increased margins of safety for the men and women who work in underground or surface mines. An increased emphasis on training also was included among the reforms.
“With passage of the Miner Act, we stepped up our investment in helping coal operators deploy new safety measures on an expedited basis,” said Jack Lavin, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. “Our Office of Coal Development has provided over $2.7 million in grants in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 directly related to enhanced safety and advanced training of the Illinois mining workforce.”
Governor Blagojevich’s letter:
August 7, 2008
Charley Holstein
President
Rend Lake College
468 N. Ken Gray Parkway
Ina, IL 62846
Dear President Holstein:
My heartiest congratulations to the trustees of Rend Lake College and the administration on today’s groundbreaking for the college’s new Coal Mining Training Center. Developing this project, in partnership with the state of Illinois and federal government, highlights the vision of your institution and the commitment of Rend Lake College to being a leading force for economic betterment in Southern Illinois.
Many years ago, as a candidate for Governor, I raised some eyebrows by telling the people of this region that the game was far from over for Illinois coal. After decades of decline, on the heels of earlier coal revival forecasts that had been overly optimistic, there was a risk of raising false hopes, of making empty promises that coal once again would be a major economic engine for southern and central Illinois.
I took a gamble then. I bet with the clean coal scientists who said gains would be slow, but steady. I supported the political leaders who said setbacks will accompany advances. But most of all, I put my money with the coal miners and future coal miners, with the coal haulers, electricians and mechanics. I went with the working people whose interests convinced me that the odds were long, but the potential gains were enormous for them, for their families, for their neighbors and their communities.
This ceremony today recognizes both that our investment in the future of coal continues, and that the dividends from that investment have begun to flow. As the nation searches feverishly for clean, affordable, secure sources of fuel, coal is the Comeback Kid of the energy game.
We see this comeback not only here at Rend Lake College. We see it only a few miles south of here, at the new Pond Creek Mine in Williamson County, and a few miles to the west, where Knight Hawk Coal continues to expand. And we will see the comeback, in dramatic fashion, at the new Lively Grove Mine in Washington County, which will produce 6 million tons of coal to fuel the $3 billion Prairie State Power Station adjacent to the mine.
The Office of Mines and Minerals forecasts the need to train hundreds of new miners in the next two years, even more in the years ahead. Several thousand working miners will need refresher training. In recent years, the Illinois Office of Coal Development has invested more than $3.3 million in training and safety programs. A critical part of the training and safety matrix will be this Rend Lake College facility. Together, we will train a new generation of men and women to work safely and productively in bringing Illinois coal up out of the ground.
Again, you are to be congratulated for the leadership being shown by Rend Lake College. It will pay healthy dividends to this region, our state and the entire nation for many years to come.
Sincerely,
ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH
Governor of Illinois