Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, tragedy has visited West Virginia's coal mines again. It is a visitor our State knows all too well. The names of the communities change with each visit, and the years do as well. Monongah in 1907, Dola in 1963, Farmington in 1968, Sago in 2006, and now Raleigh County, April 2010. The names change, Mr. Speaker, but the grief and the sorrow, they stay exactly the same. The mother who lost her son last week is united with the sister who lost her brother in 1968 and the daughter who lost her father in 1907. Mr. Speaker, shy of 2 million people live in my State. Maybe one in 90 earns a living as a coal miner in the coal fields. Most West Virginias have never been underground, and most never will be. But every one of us lives with the knowledge and the full appreciation of what can go wrong whenever a new shift of miners goes underground. Coal mining is not just my State's most important industry, it is central to our culture and our social identity. When tragedy visits one of our communities, it visits our entire State. It brings us together.”