Coal Mining

Exposed: States Relying On ‘House Of Cards’ To Pay For Coal Mine Cleanup

June 29, 2020 Mark Olalde, Desmog Blog. Educate! Coal Mining, Environment, pollution, West Virginia

For more than a century-and-a-half, the forests, streams, and hollows of the Appalachian Mountains have been scraped and gashed to unearth their heart of rich black coal. These lumps of hydrocarbons historically played a vital role in America’s electricity mix, accounting for a third of the country’s energy production as recently as 2008. But over the past decade, a devastating combination of forces has pummeled the industry, from cheap natural gas and the falling cost of renewables to growing public pressure to respond to the climate crisis. U.S. coal production has dropped 40 percent since its peak 12 years ago, and the commodity accounted for only 14 percent of the country’s electricity generation last year. With the coronavirus pandemic now stalling energy demand, coal production has dropped about 26 percent in the past 12 months alone, perhaps ringing the death knell for coal as an energy source in America.

Trump Illegally Opened Western Colorado Forests To Coal Mining

March 8, 2020 Wild Earth Guardians. Resist! Coal Mining, Colorado, National Forests, Trump

Denver— A federal appeals court today ruled that the U.S. Forest Service illegally approved a loophole allowing the coal industry to despoil unroaded National Forest lands in western Colorado. The decision gives new hope for the protection of Colorado’s North Fork Valley and for the climate. “The Trump administration can’t sacrifice public lands at the expense of our climate,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ climate and energy program director. “Today’s ruling is another win for the American public over the dirty coal industry and their climate-denying cronies in the federal government.” “The Forest Service failed to provide a logically coherent explanation for its decision to eliminate the Pilot Knob Alternative,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit wrote.

Shutting US Coal Plants Saved More Than 26,000 Lives Over The Past Decade

January 10, 2020 Staff, E360.yale.edu Educate! Coal Mining, Power Plants

The shutdown of hundreds of coal-fired power plants in the United States over the past decade has saved an estimated 26,610 lives, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Sustainability. This closure of coal plants also has reduced carbon dioxide emissions and lowered air pollution and ozone levels, and has even increased nearby crop yields, the study found. More than 330 coal-fired power plants stopped operating in the U.S. between 2005 and 2016, thanks in part due to aging facilities and a glut of cheap natural gas.

Creating A New Market For Coal In The Push To Mine ‘Critical Minerals’ For National Security

December 4, 2019 By Laura Peterson, Desmogblog.com Educate! Coal Mining, National Security

With the backing of the mining industry and anti-regulatory groups, the Trump administration has been seeking to expand mining on public lands and further loosen environmental rules under the banner of weaning the United States off importing minerals deemed “critical” to national security. This move may have particular implications for the struggling U.S. coal industry and its promoters, which have begun rallying behind efforts to extract some of these so-called “critical minerals” from coal and its by-products.

Thousands Of Activists Stage Protests At Three German Coal Mines To Demand Bolder Climate Policies

December 2, 2019 By Jessica Corbett, Commondreams.org Resist! Climate Change, Coal Mining, Germany, Protests

On the heels of Friday's global youth-led climate strike, thousands of activists staged demonstrations at three coal mines in Germany Saturday to protest the government's plan to phase out coal by 2038, which activists say isn't soon enough. The German news agency dpa reported that "protesters ran into the Jänschwalde and Welzow-Süd open-cast mining sites in the eastern state of Brandenburg, as well as the United Schleenhain lignite mining area in neighboring Saxony." Ende Gelände (End of the Road), which helped organize the protests, said there were about 4,000 demonstrators total...

People Of Color And White Rural Populations Are Going To Suffer The Most From The EPA’s War On Renewable Power

August 9, 2019 By Gloria Oladipo, Otherwords.org Educate! Class Struggle, Coal Mining, EPA, Renewable Energy

New coal standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are threatening to permanently undermine the federal government’s power to control power plant pollution. The new rule — which would empower states to decide how much they want to reduce their emissions, if at all — will be devastating for all Americans. Especially vulnerable are people of color and rural populations. Several states — California, Washington, and Iowa to name a few — have already challenged the new rule.

Kentucky Miners Are Blocking a Coal Train, Demanding Their Stolen Wages

August 4, 2019 Alexandra Bradbury, Labornotes. Resist! Coal Mining, Wages, West Virginia, Worker Rights

Harlan County, Kentucky, is probably best known for the hard-fought strikes in its coal mines in the 1930s and 1970s. Today the remaining mines are nonunion. But evidently the local spirit of militancy and solidarity is still kicking. For three days now, miners and their families have occupied a railroad track, blocking a train that’s loaded up with coal that these workers dug out of the earth and never got paid for. Word spread quickly July 29 that someone was loading up the train to move. A few laid-off miners headed down to the site to find out what was going on, and it didn’t take long to decide they weren’t going to let this train go anywhere. The miners want their jobs back, if possible—but bottom line, they want their wages for the work they already did. “I would like to get the money that I’m owed,” said miner Cameron Cornett, a father of three, “the money that I worked for, and that was taken from me and my family and these other workers.”

Victory In Illinois: Coal Plant Found Guilty Of Polluting Groundwater With Coal Ash

June 26, 2019 Ruth Milka, Nationofchange.org Create! Coal Mining, Illinois, pollution, Water Pollution

“Today is a huge victory for Waukegan residents who have fought for years to see corporations like NRG Energy held accountable for the toxic waste that has been illegally dumped on our Lake Michigan lakefront.” The Illinois Pollution Control Board’s interim order has ruled that NRG Energy’s Waukegan Generating Station is responsible for polluting groundwater with coal ash. The Waukegan plant, which is located on Lake Michigan’s shoreline, is one of four Illinois plants accused by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups of breaking state pollution laws and regulations.

Direct Action Shuts Down Coal Infrastructure In Germany

June 24, 2019 Staff, Unicornriot.ninja Resist! Climate Change, Coal Mining, Direct Action, Fossil Fuels, Germany, March

The marches from the Ende Gelände covered a fair amount of distance and stretched into the afternoon. As the marchers approached the train they were going to take to their destination, police turned them away from using transit, forcing them to begin a trek of several kilometers on foot. Police in riot gear pushed their way through the march at one point, which increased the feeling of tension in the crowd. The green and red “finger” combined during the journey, while the pink “finger” had reportedly already reached the site.

Judge Rules Trump Administration Violated Law By Opening Public Lands To Coal Leasing

April 22, 2019 By Rebecca Bowe, Earthjustice.org Resist! Coal Mining, Land, Trump Administration

For Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine, three tense days in the battle against coal kicked off on a Monday morning, while she was in the middle of packing a suitcase. She was preparing to fly from Montana to New Orleans to attend a clean energy conference. Her two sons were eating breakfast in the kitchen as her husband prepared their lunches. Suddenly, Harbine overheard their 7-year-old, Ole, pipe up: “Dad, they’re talking about coal on the radio.”

Traditional Owners Fighting Adani Coal Mine Mount Fresh Legal Challenge

April 17, 2019 By Ella Archibald-Binge, Sbs.com.au Resist! Australia, Coal Mining, Courts

Adani gained federal government approval for its controversial mine project but could be stopped by a courtroom confrontation from Traditional Owners. Traditional Owners opposed to the Carmichael mine will mount a legal challenge in the federal court next month to overturn Adani's crucial agreement with Indigenous landholders. The mining company's groundwater management plan was approved this week by Federal Environment Melissa Price and before construction can begin the Queensland government needs to sign off on environmental approvals.

New U.S. Oil And Gas Drilling To Unleash 1,000 Coal Plants’ Worth Of Pollution By 2050

January 18, 2019 Alexander C. Kaufman, Huffingtonpost.com Educate! Coal Mining, Drilling, Oil, pollution

The great American fracking boom threatens to undermine efforts to avoid climate catastrophe in this century. Amid mounting calls to phase out fossil fuels in the face of rapidly worsening climate change, the United States is ramping up oil and gas drilling faster than any other country, threatening to add 1,000 coal plants’ worth of planet-warming gases by the middle of the century, according to a report released Wednesday. By 2030, the U.S. is on track to produce 60 percent of the world’s new oil and gas supply, an expansion at least four times larger than in any other country. By 2050, the country’s newly tapped reserves are projected to spew 120 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Berlin Startup Offers €1m To Save Ancient Hambach Forest From Coal Mining

October 13, 2018 By Kate Connolly, Theguardian.com Educate! Berlin, Coal Mining

Ecosia offers to buy remaining forest from energy firm RWE, which plans to fell most of the trees. A non-profit Berlin tech startup has offered to buy the remaining 200 hectares of an ancient German forest to save it from being destroyed for coal surface mining. Ecosia, a search engine which donates the majority of its advertising revenue to conservation initiatives and funded the planting of almost 40m trees across the world, has approached the energy firm RWE with an offer of €1m (£877,000) to secure the final stretch of the 12,000-year-old Hambach forest in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. “We think that a fair reconciliation of interests can be found between RWE and the people, and with our commitment to buy the remaining stretch...

Solidarity With Amazing Resistance To Destruction Of Hambacher Forest

September 17, 2018 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance Resist! Blockade, climate crisis, Coal Mining, Resist

The Hambach Forest, which one could call the last “primeval” forest in Central Europe, is being stubbed for Europe’s biggest climate pollutant – the Rhenish lignite mining area of RWE (Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier), in which RWE mines brown coal. Whole villages and the health of human beings are destroyed in this process. To prevent all of this people squatted the Hambacher Forest and take part in other effective and direct Actions. Join us!

Australians: Lawmakers #StopAdani From Building Country’s Largest Coal Mine

February 7, 2018 Brandon Jordan, Wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Australia, Coal Mining

Hundreds of Australians gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra on Monday to demand that lawmakers — heading into the first legislative session of 2018 — stop what would be the country’s largest coal mine from being built. Adani, the Indian-based energy group behind the $12 billion facility, submitted an application to the Queensland government in 2010 to build Carmichael coal mine, but has yet to receive full approval from federal and provincial officials due to environmental and legal concerns from residents. The project has spurred a movement across the country, with a recent poll showing a majority of Australians, or nearly 56 percent, opposing the project. Maggie McKeown, a community organizer for the Mackay Conservation Group and a speaker at Monday’s demonstration, highlighted the #StopAdani alliance as an example of resistance to the mine.

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