Eustace Frederick

Eustace Frederick spent the first 40 years of his career with Consolidation Coal Company. He became a vice president after 18 years and was named the senior vice president of Mining for the Southern Appalachia Region, a position he retained until 1992, when he retired. He then consulted in the coal industry until he became a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1993. His safety innovations and improvements for the lives of West Virginia coal miners - and coal miners all across the country - were vast and effective during his career with CONSOL. He pioneered efforts in the 1970s to develop the Automatic Temporary Roof Support System, a successful means of supporting the mine roof using hydraulic pressure jacks in low coal mining, which saved many lives. Although the mining industry recognized the hazards of lack of overhead protection on machinery, it was Eustace that made it a priority to retrofit each specific type of machine in low seam coal and it was his commitment to this project that made it a success. He also led the way for many other safety initiatives such as roof bolt testing improving tensile strength, and metacarpal gloves for miners. He became a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1993 by appointment. He ran for election in 1994, and his district has voted to return him to the House ever since. While in the House of Delegates, Eustace crafted legislation that has enabled West Virginia companies to obtain special permits to run diesel equipment in approved situations. Over 70 such units are currently in operation, and the safety and efficiency of these underground mines will continue to improve because of diesel equipment. He received the Virginia Tech Engineering Award of Excellence in 2004, an honor received by only 45 out of 40,000 engineering alumni.