Feature Stories
View from the Rails: Train Engineer Chronicles 25 Years of PRB Coal
March 5, 2020
There’s a rhythm to every landscape that, if you watch it long enough, transcends the annual seasons. For example, the prevalence of raptors along the 150-mile rail route from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to the Nebraska border seems to cycle
Miners Sound the Alarm at 27th Annual Victorian Mine Rescue Competition in Australia
March 3, 2020
Anyone passing Yallourn mine in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley during October may have thought there were a number of serious incidents occurring with all of the chaos going on. Salomae Haselgrove explains what was really happening. No-one was actually in danger
Policy Brief: Protecting the Environment from the Green New Deal
March 2, 2020
This Policy Brief reviews the largely ignored environmental damage that would result from the expanded use of renewable energy mandated under the Green New Deal. In recent decades, policymakers have forced public utilities to generate increasingly more electricity from fashionable
South Milwaukee’s Bucyrus Mining Heritage to Be Preserved With New Museum
February 25, 2020
For nearly 120 years, Bucyrus made heavy mining equipment in South Milwaukee, forging a strong bond to the South Shore community’s industrial heritage. The link was broken in 2011, when Illinois-based industrial giant Caterpillar acquired Bucyrus. Almost immediately, Caterpillar took
New Pilot Plant Has Potential to Turn Acid Mine Drainage Into Minerals
February 24, 2020
Near Mt. Storm, West Virginia, a pilot plant under construction will soon test a potential win-win for industry and the environment. It aims to turn a major pollutant of streams and ponds — acid mine drainage — into badly needed
Lithium-Producing Countries Grow Stature on World Mining Stage
February 20, 2020
A handful of countries dominate the market for producing lithium - a mineral that has grown in stature in recent years due to its use in batteries Lithium-producing countries have grown in stature on the world mining stage in recent
Emil Ramirez: Minnesota Should Become Leader in Responsible Mining
February 17, 2020
For the last 30 years we have led District #11 of the United Steelworkers union (USW) in the northwestern quarter of the country, based here in Minnesota. To quote a frequent insurance TV ad, “We know a thing or two
Coal Country Still Supports Trump Despite Failing to Revive the Industry
February 13, 2020
More than 600 feet underground in the Appalachian region of southwestern Pennsylvania, it’s almost like John Morecraft, a 45-year-old history teacher turned coal miner, is back in a classroom. Several of his former high school students work in the mine,
West Virginia’s Coal Culture Runs Deep. It is Also Evolving.
February 11, 2020
Walking on the two-lane road that loops behind the Longview plant — West Virginia’s newest and cleanest coal-fired power facility — Steve Nelson and his boss had what he describes as a “slow epiphany.” “Why fight with this?” he recalls
Coal is Booming, But Not in the U.S.
February 10, 2020
Few industries have seen more economic ups and downs than coal. In Colorado and most of the United States, it has been mostly down for a couple decades, but it turns out that is not the case elsewhere. Not by
