Jul 28 Energy & Environment Mine Safety Agency Should Do More to Protect Coal Miners in the Pandemic, Oversight Office Finds The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has not done enough to protect coal miners during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from an oversight agency released Tuesday. Through interviews with MSHA officials and union representatives, as well as reviews of state and national policies, the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General […] By Sydney Boles Jul 28 Energy & Environment Mine Safety Agency Should Do More to Protect Coal Miners in the Pandemic, Oversight Office Finds Sydney Boles
Jul 24 Economy “No Pay, We Stay.” A Look Back At Miners’ Protest That Rocked Appalachia It’s a quiet, foggy morning on Highway 119 in Cumberland, Kentucky. A railroad track runs along the highway, and here, Sand Hill Bottom Road crosses the tracks and turns to the right, leaving a rough triangle of gravel spattered with trash. You can hear crickets chirping, birds twittering, cars passing on 119. A billboard advertises […] By Sydney Boles Jul 24 Economy “No Pay, We Stay.” A Look Back At Miners’ Protest That Rocked Appalachia Sydney Boles
Jul 24 Economy No Pay, We Stay: A Look Back at the 2019 Protest that Rocked Appalachia It’s a quiet, foggy morning on Highway 119 in Cumberland, Kentucky. A railroad track runs along the highway, and here, Sand Hill Bottom Road crosses the tracks and turns to the right, leaving a rough triangle of gravel spattered with trash. You can hear crickets chirping, birds twittering, cars passing on 119. A billboard advertises […] By Sydney Boles Jul 24 Economy No Pay, We Stay: A Look Back at the 2019 Protest that Rocked Appalachia Sydney Boles
Jul 2 Economy RECLAIM Act To Boost Coal Communities Passes House As Part Of Infrastructure Bill The House of Representatives Wednesday passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that includes two provisions that would specifically help coal-reliant communities in the Ohio Valley. The bill, called the Moving Forward Act, includes funding for roads and bridges, rural broadband, drinking water system repairs, renewable energy, and affordable housing, all of which Democrats say would […] By Sydney Boles Jul 2 Economy RECLAIM Act To Boost Coal Communities Passes House As Part Of Infrastructure Bill Sydney Boles
Mar 23 Energy & Environment Ohio Valley Coal Industry Braces As COVID-19 Impacts Electricity Demand, International Exports As states across the Ohio Valley order the closure of non-essential businesses to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, coal mines will remain open. But as with many industries, the global pandemic is straining the coal sector, and some experts say the already struggling industry could face intense challenges in the months ahead as […] By Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles Mar 23 Energy & Environment Ohio Valley Coal Industry Braces As COVID-19 Impacts Electricity Demand, International Exports Brittany Patterson and Sydney Boles
Mar 1 Energy & Environment Clean Water Wanted: Contaminated Wells And The Legacy Of Fossil Fuel Extraction “You seen that one with the tombstone up there?” seven-year-old Timothy Easterling asks, looking toward the grass just uphill from his home. “That’s my papaw.” Timothy’s grandfather Chet Blankenship died in 2016, at age 69. Blankenship lived on land he and his family have long owned at the end of a road atop Bradshaw Mountain […] By Benny Becker Mar 1 Energy & Environment Clean Water Wanted: Contaminated Wells And The Legacy Of Fossil Fuel Extraction Benny Becker
Dec 31 Economy 2020 Hindsight: The Ohio Valley’s Decade In Data The year: 2009. A Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama has just made history upon taking the presidential oath of office. The national economy is at a low point in the Great Recession. And the Pittsburgh Steelers are the first NFL team to win six Super Bowls. Ten years later, as 2019 gives way to […] By Becca Schimmel Dec 31 Economy 2020 Hindsight: The Ohio Valley’s Decade In Data Becca Schimmel
Dec 19 Economy After Nearly A Decade Of Anxiety Over Pensions, Coal Miners See Light At The End Of The Tunnel Union coal miners and retirees breathed a collective sigh of relief after the U.S. Senate passed a spending bill that includes support for miners’ pensions, which had been at risk due to the coal industry’s downturn. The bill, which funds the federal government for the coming year, also includes The Bipartisan American Miners Act which […] By Becca Schimmel Dec 19 Economy After Nearly A Decade Of Anxiety Over Pensions, Coal Miners See Light At The End Of The Tunnel Becca Schimmel
Dec 13 Energy & Environment Two Decades Of Resistance: Coal River Mountain Watch Takes Stock At 20 Coal River Mountain Watch’s history of resistance to mountaintop coal mining is plastered across the wood-paneled walls of the group’s modest office in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Framed photos, many of demonstrators being handcuffed, dot the walls. In the back of the building, a floor-to-ceiling length tapestry depicts the “true cost of coal” as envisioned […] By Brittany Patterson Dec 13 Energy & Environment Two Decades Of Resistance: Coal River Mountain Watch Takes Stock At 20 Brittany Patterson
Dec 11 Economy Ohio Valley Lawmaker Plans To Halt Senate Action Over Coal Miners’ Benefits West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin pledged Wednesday to block all legislation until pensions and health benefits are secured for coal miners. Manchin said no legislation will pass the Senate until he is assured that coal miners’ benefits will be in the spending bill used to fund the federal government. The Bipartisan American Miners Act […] By Becca Schimmel Dec 11 Economy Ohio Valley Lawmaker Plans To Halt Senate Action Over Coal Miners’ Benefits Becca Schimmel