coal industry

September 1, 2015 - Fossil-fuel apologists have accused the Obama administration of waging a war on coal, but the real war is the one coal companies have for years carried out against the health and safety of their workforce.

December 23, 2014 - A gathering held earlier this month in a community near Louisiana's imperiled coast brought together Houma Indians and young climate activists to build solidarity to address global warming, rising seas, and the environmental effects of oil drilling.

March 11, 2014 - Before its coal-fired units were shuttered in 2012, Duke Energy's Dan River plant burned coal from mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. The reality that the arsenic-laden ash now contaminating a North Carolina river was once a forested mountain peak highlights the destructive lifecycle of coal.

January 13, 2014 - Most Americans are aware of the pollution hazards associated with the mining and burning of coal. The water contamination disaster unfolding in West Virginia highlights another hazard inherent in coal power: the chemical-intensive coal cleaning process.

May 2, 2013 - The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights recently visited West Virginia communities affected by the controversial mining practice and said allegations of health damage, water pollution, failure to protect cemeteries, and harassment of opponents should be investigated and addressed.

April 24, 2013 - There were two big developments this week in the fight to end mountaintop removal, with a federal appeals court upholding the EPA's authority to revoke permits for such coal mining operations, and a group of scientists calling for a moratorium on the practice. Is the end of blowing up Appalachia near?

March 5, 2013 - Declining coal production is hurting Appalachia's economy, which was already in rough shape. Scholars are looking at Wales, which lost its coal economy in the 1980s, for examples for how Appalachia might address its economic future.