INA - A ceremonial turning of earth Thursday marked a start to construction on a new coal mining training center at Rend Lake College that officials say also is a harbinger of good things to come for Southern Illinois.

Construction will start today on the $1.3 million training center that will offer refresher courses for current miners and training for those new to the industry, RLC Interim President Charley Holstein said. The facility should be ready for students in March.

"The project's primary goal is to meet the employment training needs of the coal companies so they have qualified individuals available to them when they are ready to hire," Holstein said.

"The secondary goal is to enhance the safety of the coal mining industry by providing a facility to train qualified individuals to replace the massive number of coal miners who will be reaching retirement age in the next five to 10 years."

The 20,000-square-foot center will include office space, a traditional classroom, and a large space where training will be provided on specialized equipment, he said.

Warren Ribley, director of operations for the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, attended the ceremony and congratulated the college and its boosters for efforts to help prepare the region for the return of the coal mining industry.

"We are really bullish on the Illinois coal industry and see it coming back in a number of ways, not only with Prairie State (Energy Campus, under construction near Lively Grove), but also in a number of other projects coming online," Ribley said. "This is a great facility and one that is really needed in this state as we train our next generation of coal miners. This facility will be well used."

The center is expected to cost about $1.3 million, Holstein said, with the majority of the funding coming in the form of a $1.07 million grant from the state. Other funding sources, such as grants or institutional funds, will pay for the rest of the facility, he said.

Ribley thanked Gov. Rod Blagojevich, state Rep. Kurt Granberg, state Sen. Gary Forby and others.

He also read a letter from Blagojevich to the crowd.

"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," Blagojevich said. "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."

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