Coal Mining

‘Conscience’ Shuts Down UK’s Largest Coal Mine

October 27, 2015 Lauren McCauley, www.nirs.org Resist! Coal Mining, United Kingdom (UK)

By Lauren McCauley for Common Dreams - Activists identifying themselves as the "conscience" of one of the United Kingdom's most prominent climate change skeptics on Monday shut down operations at an open-cast coal mine—the country's largest—which happens to be situated on land owned by the notorious climate-denier and aristocrat, Conservative Viscount Matt Ridley. Beginning at dawn, "four protesters climbed down into the depths of the Shotton mine, which is run by Banks Mining, fastening themselves to a 500-tonne coal excavator and brandishing a banner bearing the slogan 'End Coal,' while another group of around eight blocked the main entrance to the site by lying in front of the gate, handcuffed together inside drainage pipes," the Guardian reports.

Top Coal Executive Faces Criminal Charges

October 10, 2015 Mason Adams, www.grist.org Educate! Accountability, Coal, Coal Mining, Criminal Justice

By Mason Adams for Grist.org. Charleston, W. VA - The autocratic, micro-managing, bludgeoning style that won throwback Appalachian coal baron Don Blankenship the ire of environmentalists, the fear of underlings, and the title “Dark Lord of Coal Country” from Rolling Stone may finally have caught up with him. The opening arguments began today in Blankenship’s federal criminal trial. He faces charges of conspiring to avoid safety laws and lying to regulators that could put him behind bars for up to 31 years. Blankenship casts a long shadow over the Appalachian coal industry. Since the early 1980s, he’s fought labor unions, regulatory agencies, environmental activists, and other coal companies.

More Coal Plants Are Now Being Cancelled Than Built

October 5, 2015 Adam Novak, www.tcktcktck.org Create! Coal Mining

By Adam Novak for GCCA - The construction of coal plants has moved from boom to bust. According to a new report released by the Sierra Club and the research network CoalSwarm, two plants are now being cancelled for every one that is completed. The recent decline can be attributed to a number of causes including mounting citizen opposition to coal, competition from renewables, and new policy initiatives. The changes to coal are also unevenly spread throughout the globe. Europe had the highest proportion of canned coal projects while East Asia had the lowest rates, as China continues to build up its coal fleet. One Chinese province alone, Jiangsu, has built almost as much new coal capacity as the whole of the US and the EU combined.

Bankruptcy Lawyers Strip Cash From Coal Miners’ Health Insurance

October 5, 2015 Alec MCGillis, www.propublica.org Educate! Coal Mining, Mining

By Alec McGillis for Pro Publica and The Daily Beast - There was plenty in the complex deal to benefit bankers, lawyers, executives and hedge fund managers. Patriot Coal Corp. was bankrupt, but its mines would be auctioned to pay off mounting debts while financial engineering would generate enough cash to cover the cost of the proceedings. When the plan was filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in Richmond last week, however, one group didn’t come out so well: 208 retired miners, wives and widows in southern Indiana who have no direct connection to Patriot Coal. Millions of dollars earmarked for their health care as they age would effectively be diverted instead to legal fees and other bills from the bankruptcy. As coal companies go bankrupt or shut down throughout Appalachia and parts of the Midwest, the immediate fallout includes lost jobs and devastated communities.

Shutting Down A Coal Mine On The Road Through Paris

August 21, 2015 Morten Thaysen, www.globaljustice.org.uk Resist! Coal Mining, Environment, Paris

By Morten Thaysen in Global Justice - The view is breath-taking and strangely beautiful as we reach the edge of the giant open cast coal mine. The surrounding landscape has turned from fertile cabbage fields to a gaping wound in the ground with no signs of life. In that moment as hundreds of my fellow activists dressed in white boiler suits storm down the slopes towards the giant machines carving out the mine, I know we are achieving something great. We’re shutting down one of the biggest coal mines on Earth. Last weekend I took time off work to blockade a giant coal mine along with more than 1500 other activists from 45 countries to deal a blow to the corporate fossil fuel industry and push for the change that the UN climate negotiations are failing to bring.

Newsletter: See You At The Barricades

June 6, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese at Popular Resistance, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Coal Mining, fast track, Fracking, Human Right, Human Trafficking, Indigenous People, Militarization, NSA, Patriot Act, Slavery, Solar Energy, TISA, TPP, TTIP, USA Freedom Act, Wikileaks

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese at Popular Resistance. We are at a crossroads to either a future of global corporate governance or a chance for democracy. As Chris Hedges writes in his new book, "Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt," a revolution is coming but we can't guarantee which way it will go. Will you be there to fight for justice? You have an opportunity to do that now. This is the critical week to stop Fast Track legislation from passing in Congress. Fast Track could last for the next six years and would enable passage of not just the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but also the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). There are different ways to define security. Some would say that security means a police or military force to protect people from those who might cause harm. Others would say that security means the government has a responsibility to make sure that the basic needs of its people are met which in itself would reduce crimes and the need for a violent security force. This is your food for thought for this week. How do you define security?

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Ends On March 16

March 8, 2015 Jeff Biggers, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Coal Mining, Environment, health, Mountaintop Removal

Fourteen months after the world watched in astonishment as poorly regulated coal-washing chemicals contaminated the Elk River in West Virginia, coal country residents and supporters are gearing up for an epic showdown on March 16 with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection—and the U.S. Congress—over the mounting death toll and health crisis from mountaintop removal strip mining. After witnessing the loss of their health, livelihoods, forests, historic farms and homes over ahalf century of unparalleled strip mining destruction, The People’s Foot movement—an extraordinary alliance of residents, community and environmental groups and national civil rights organizations—is coming down in Charleston, West Virginia, with a clear message: March 16 has officially been declared “No More Mountaintop Removal Permits Day.”

Hundreds Participate in Lockdowns, Treesits, Protests

February 22, 2015 Mel Barnes, www.greenleft.org.au Resist! Climate Change, Coal Mining, Environment, health

Maules Creek Mine - About 250 people gathered at the Leard State Forest in northern NSW from February 13 and 18 to stop Whitehaven Coal clearing the forest to make way for its proposed Maules Creek coalmine. The project has been plagued by protest for more than two years and more than 300 people have been arrested, including farmer Rick Laird and former Wallabies captain David Pocock. Protesters are concerned about the environmental impacts the mine will have on the surrounding forest, which comprises some of the last intact critically endangered box-gum woodland left on earth. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s assessment of the project has described the forest as “irreplaceable”. The new mine is the largest coal mine under construction in Australia.

“Stop In The Name Of Love” As PNC Locks Down Regional HQs

February 12, 2015 EQAT, www.eqat.org Resist! Coal Mining, Energy, Environment, Mountaintop Removal, Pennsylvania

On Monday, February 9, Earth Quaker Action Team demonstrated their love of the mountains and the earth with a Valentine’s Day themed protest at PNC Regional Headquarters, 1600 Market St, Philadelphia. The group called on PNC Bank to stop financing companies engaged in mountaintop removal coal mining, a horrific practice that poisons Appalachian communities and contributes to climate change. The protest, which prompted the bank to lock down for several hours, was in conjunction with the 10th annual I Love Mountains Day(1). The forty-two people present ranged in age from 8 to 86. Some had traveled from Miami, Pittsburgh, and New York for a weekend training, intending to prepare for further action back home.

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