An Evolving Energy Source
Although it's not something he ever saw himself doing, Todd Myers says that his job at Westmoreland Coal Company provides something for all of his interests.
“There are so many issues surrounding the coal industry—global warming, clean air regulation, and land reclamation are just a few,” he says. “I enjoy dealing with all of these issues because coal is so important to our economy.”
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Todd Myers '86 political science |
The path that led him to his current position began at Penn State, where Myers studied political science. Besides interning for Arlen Specter's office in the summer of 1984, Myers was hired as a staff assistant to Representative Roy Dyson, a Democrat from Maryland, a year after he graduated, in 1987. During that time, he helped draft a House resolution to protect the Chesapeake Bay, which was later incorporated into the Clean Water Act of 1987. But it wouldn't all come together until after he earned his master's degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management when he spotted the anonymous ad for a marketing analyst in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“When I found out it was a coal company, I said ‘coal? I didn't think we even still used the stuff.'” Myers recalls. “I now see that this industry is really the nexus of business and political science, which remain my major interests.”
Hired by Westmoreland in 1989, Myers was assigned to analyze the then-pending acid rain legislation, which was then incorporated into the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. These amendments pioneered “cap and trade” controls for sulfur dioxide emissions, which were being regulated to achieve reductions.
After a short hiatus from the company, Myers rejoined Westmoreland in 2000 to rebuild the company after a restructuring. He is currently vice president of sales and marketing and is involved in new business development, such as turning coal to liquids to make diesel fuel, to activate carbon to capture mercury emissions, and the possible production of ethanol.
“The price of natural gas, which is currently used to make ethanol, is quite volatile,” says Myers. “I'm working to get ethanol projects going near our coal mines.”
One of those mines, the Absaloka, is a 15,000-acre single pit surface mine complex in Big Horn County, Montana, and is on land owned by the Native American Crow tribe. Westmoreland leases the land, pays 25 cents on every dollar of revenue generated and is the largest employer of tribal members, with some 80 percent of those working in the mine belonging to the tribe.
“Several years ago, Big Horn County was the second poorest county in the country, with 60 to 70 percent unemployment,” says Myers. “We've helped to improve the living standards of the county, and we now donate fifty thousand dollars a year in educational scholarships to the Crows. We also have a multicultural liaison there who helps to negotiate our agreement to give them preferential hiring rights.”
Myers also works with the Penn State Center for Sustainability's American Indian Housing Initiative, a project whereby students travel to Montana each summer to build straw-bale facilities at the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Completed projects to date include four homes, an adult education center, and several research buildings. An early childhood learning center is current being constructed.
Westmoreland Coal was founded in 1854 and named after Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. One of the first corporate secretaries, William Jackson Palmer, established the town of Colorado Springs and the Denver-Rio Grande Railroad. One of the first board members, Douglas Larimer, founded what was then the town of Denver. The company moved from Philadelphia to Colorado Springs in 1995.
Besides research into renewable energy and other ways of emissions reduction, Myers is proud of the company's work with mined land reclamation and protection of the environment. “In 2005, our Rosebud Mine received a national award for excellence in surface mining from the Office of Surface Mining and Enforcement,” Myers says.
“We've preserved the nest of an endangered bird near the Jewett mine, and Native American petroglyphs on rock formations, among other activities,” says Myers. “Westmoreland endeavors to operate as good environmental stewards, citizens, and neighbors.”