Feature Stories
Fracking Jobs Prove Elusive for Coal Miners Looking to Switch
August 21, 2017
Robert Dennis has mined coal in West Virginia for 10 years but a recent evening found him in a classroom at his local community college. He came to learn about opportunities in fracking, a drilling technique used to produce natural
South Africa’s Blyvoor Goes from One of the World’s Richest Gold Mines to Ghost Town
August 7, 2017
Thousands of unemployed miners in South Africa are calling on the Government to save their town. The Blyvoor gold mine, near Johannesburg, shut down in 2013 when it became unprofitable. Once one of the richest gold mines in the world,
Robert W. Chase: Benefits Continuing from Shale Oil Boom
July 31, 2017
Why should U.S. consumers feel good about the shale revolution? The best reason is that U.S. gasoline prices, adjusted for inflation, are the cheapest they’ve been since 2000. The price drop shows that one of the great benefits from the
Citizen Stakes in Alberta Oil and Gas Development May See Rebirth
June 8, 2017
Citizen stakes in oil and gas development may be reborn in Alberta Albertans had pride in owning the oilsands when production began 50 years ago. Watch for an effort to revive personal connections to resource wealth — and popular acceptance
University of Calgary Researchers Develop Leakproof Pipeline Design
June 2, 2017
In a basement laboratory at the University of Calgary, a pair of researchers say they have a solution to one of the key problems facing the oil and gas pipeline industry — spills. The researchers say their system, which combines
GE’s New Innovation Center in Virginia to Showcase Coal Efficiencies
May 31, 2017
No matter what the prospects for renewable energies might be, with more than 500 years of reserves in the U.S. alone, coal will be here to stay for a good long time. Coal plants currently generate more than 40 percent
Demise of World’s Largest Gold Mine in 1922 Helped Build Juneau, Alaska
May 4, 2017
Today, the site of what was once the largest gold mine in the world looks merely like a small natural bay. Where hundreds of miners used to pull the valuable mineral up from depths that were unimaginable at the time,
West Virginia’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry Poised for Comeback
April 5, 2017
The oil and gas industry has faced some harsh realities in the past few years, but industry leaders believe the future is bright. Anne Blankenship, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, said producers in the
New Drying Technique Technology Would Make PRB Coal in Wyoming More Valuable
March 31, 2017
New technology can make Wyoming coal burn hotter, potentially helping the-cheap-to-produce Powder River Basin coal become competitive with high quality coal in the east. That’s the promise CBA Environmental made when Powder River Basin coal was used in a demonstration
How American Coal Could Come Back Leaner and Cleaner
November 28, 2016
It’s been a wild month for the U.S. coal industry. When the Paris climate agreement entered into effect on November 5, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both thought they had signed the death warrant of the American coal industry. Just
