Feature Stories
Coal Shippers Benefit as Mine Industry Enjoys a Rebound
May 18, 2017
All Christy Laxton has to do to see if the coal market has improved is look out her office window. “We have a railroad track that runs right behind our office. We had had very few (coal trains), but right
Wyoming Coal Miners Have High Hopes for Trump Amid National Turbulence
May 18, 2017
Ever since November, Stacey Moeller, a 58-year-old lifelong Democrat, feels a sense of hope when she wakes up at 3:45 each morning. The unexpected reason: Donald Trump. Moeller is a career coal miner in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.
Looking Back at Life Underground: Jack McReynolds Remembers Life as a Coal Miner
May 16, 2017
Jack McReynolds will always be a coal miner. The 81-year-old of West Frankfort dedicated 40 years of his working life to the industry and said coal has been a part of his life since he was born. “I remember laying
From Coal to Code: Out-of-work Miners Being Retrained as Computer Programmers
May 12, 2017
Two years ago, coal miner Marvin Laucher saw wave upon wave of layoffs in the industry and knew he needed a way out. His sister had an idea: ditch the shovel for a mouse and learn how to write software.
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,
Power-starved Africa Develops Appetite for Coal
April 26, 2017
Tanzania, with potential reserves of 5 billion tons of coal, is planning its first coal-fired power plant. Kenya wants to build for its own coal-powered plant, while Ghana and Nigeria are eyeing expanded use of coal for electricity. Landlocked Botswana
The Surprisingly Clear View of a Modern Coal Miner
April 25, 2017
Coal miners didn’t see the sun all that much back when Joe Brennan went looking with his father and grandfather for anthracite. Brennan, 50, is a lifelong resident of Minersville, Schuylkill County, and still mining coal, but the view from
Arch Coal’s West Elk Mine Strives Hard to Be a Survivor, Remain Important Part of Community
April 25, 2017
It’s a cloudless early March morning with the sun glistening off new-fallen snow in the upper North Fork Valley. For the workers producing coal inside the West Elk Mine, however, it’s another day of working in the dark underground, under
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Visits Bailey Coal Mine Complex in Washington, Pa.
April 19, 2017
Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, chose a Western Pennsylvania coal mine to start his “Back-to-Basics” tour on Thursday, where he declared that “the war on coal is done.” Dozens of CONSOL Energy miners, in
Good News for W. Va. Economies Battered by War on Coal
April 17, 2017
It is a common idea among many Americans that coal as a major industrial fuel is dead, or at least dying, and cleaner fuels, like wind and solar energy, and natural gas, are taking over. There is some truth there;
