Economy Archives - Ohio Valley ReSource

Sep 13

Economy

SOAR At Six: Group’s Lofty Goals For Coal Country Meet Challenges On The Ground

In a conference hall in Pikeville, Kentucky, this September, Gov. Matt Bevin led an eager audience in a countdown. When the audience reached “One!,” a map on the screen behind the governor lit up with the promise of a high-tech future. After years of delay and scandal, major portions of the commonwealth’s “middle mile” of […]

By Sydney Boles

Sep 13

Economy

SOAR At Six: Group’s Lofty Goals For Coal Country Meet Challenges On The Ground

By Sydney Boles

Aug 23

Economy

Sanders Visits Coal States On Heels Of Climate Plan Release

Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will visit Kentucky Sunday just days after releasing his plan to address climate change. Sanders will speak in Louisville Sunday afternoon. His detailed climate plan released Thursday calls climate change “the single greatest challenge facing our country.” Like many of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, Sanders supports […]

By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 23

Economy

Sanders Visits Coal States On Heels Of Climate Plan Release

Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 9

Economy

“Bloody Harlan” Revisited: Blackjewel Miners Draw On Labor History While Facing Uncertain Future

Curtis Cress sat in the gravel beside a railroad track in Harlan County, Kentucky. Tall and thin with a long, black beard, Cress is every bit a coal miner, or, he was until a month ago. “It’s part of my heritage, you know? My dad and papaws had always done it,” he said. “And I’m […]

By Sydney Boles

Aug 9

Economy

“Bloody Harlan” Revisited: Blackjewel Miners Draw On Labor History While Facing Uncertain Future

Sydney Boles

Aug 6

Economy

Protesting Blackjewel Miners To Get Some Overdue Pay From Bankruptcy Sale

More than a thousand coal miners left unpaid by the abrupt bankruptcy of Blackjewel mining could soon be getting some – but not all – of the money they are owed. Dozens of miners have staged a week-long protest on railroad tracks in Kentucky’s Harlan County, blocking delivery of a load of coal from a […]

By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 6

Economy

Protesting Blackjewel Miners To Get Some Overdue Pay From Bankruptcy Sale

Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 5

Economy

Few Answers For Unpaid Miners After Day One of Blackjewel Sales Hearing

Blackjewel coal miners will have to wait at least another day to learn if the sale of the bankrupt coal company’s mines and equipment will deliver their overdue paychecks. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia recessed Monday after an all-day hearing that yielded few results. The court is scheduled to […]

By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 5

Economy

Few Answers For Unpaid Miners After Day One of Blackjewel Sales Hearing

Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 2

Economy

Blackjewel Miners Continue Protest As Bankruptcy Hearing Looms

Miners left unpaid by the bankrupt Blackjewel coal company say they are prepared to keep up their protest on railroad tracks in Harlan County, Kentucky, where they are blocking delivery of a load of coal. As their protest grows and gains attention, a bankruptcy court hearing on Monday could determine whether and when the miners […]

By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Aug 2

Economy

Blackjewel Miners Continue Protest As Bankruptcy Hearing Looms

Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Jul 30

Economy

Blackjewel Miners Block Railroad To Demand Pay From Bankrupt Coal Company

Some coal miners left without pay by the bankruptcy of coal company Blackjewel LLC are protesting by blocking a coal train in eastern Kentucky. The stand-off began early Monday when five miners blocked the train from leaving the Cumberland, Kentucky, plant. Despite police asking them to leave, miners spent the night blocking the railroad to […]

By Sydney Boles and Brittany Patterson

Jul 30

Economy

Blackjewel Miners Block Railroad To Demand Pay From Bankrupt Coal Company

Sydney Boles and Brittany Patterson

Jul 18

Economy

Living Wage: Ohio Valley Workers, Employers React As House Votes For $15 Minimum Wage

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, more than double the current $7.25 rate, which has not changed in a decade. The bill is unlikely to clear the Republican-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has said he will not take it […]

By Becca Schimmel

Jul 18

Economy

Living Wage: Ohio Valley Workers, Employers React As House Votes For $15 Minimum Wage

Becca Schimmel

Jul 15

Economy

“Death Spiral.” How A Carbon Tax Could End Some Coal Towns … Or Fund A New Future

Declining coal tax revenues place coal-reliant counties in Appalachia at risk of fiscal collapse, according to new research from the centrist Brookings Institution and Columbia University. Policies designed to prevent further climate change would accelerate that decline, the report found, but could also provide a new stream of revenue to help communities rebound from coal’s […]

By Sydney Boles

Jul 15

Economy

“Death Spiral.” How A Carbon Tax Could End Some Coal Towns … Or Fund A New Future

Sydney Boles

Jul 10

Economy

Laid-Off Employees Of Bankrupt Blackjewel Mining Seek Pay, Answers

Patrick Fitchpatrick has worked at Blackjewel’s D-11 coal mine in Cumberland, Kentucky, for more than a year. He said he enjoyed the work right up until he was told not to come in last Monday. “Everything was smooth sailing and then one day it just all goes to hell,” he said. The country’s sixth-largest coal […]

By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles

Jul 10

Economy

Laid-Off Employees Of Bankrupt Blackjewel Mining Seek Pay, Answers

Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles