From our friends at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition:
Today, November 15, in federal court in Huntington, W.Va., Patriot Coal Corporation announced its intention to immediately begin phasing out all large scale surface mining in Appalachia. The announcement follows an historic agreement with the Sierra Club, OVEC and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, so ably represented by attorneys from Appalachian Mountain Advocates.
As much as 18 percent of the country’s coal generating capacity should be considered for closure because the electricity it produces will be more expensive than energy from lower cost natural gas or wind power, according to a new independent analysis
Members of the Northern Kentucky chapter of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, along with members of Northern Kentucky University's Environmentally Concerned Organization of Students (ECOS), recently visited eastern Kentucky to test water in communities impacted by mountaintop removal mining, see reclamation, and visit a mountaintop removal site.
An agreement between Beshear administration and Frasure Creek Mining is not fair, reasonable or in the public interest, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd was told Monday afternoon.
This article does a solid job examining the impact of actions taken by the Obama administration that relate to the coal industry. The article quotes numerous people in the coal industry and financial sector who admit that the recent woes of the industry are "primarily due to changing market conditions, not environmental rule revisions."
This long article examines the tense political and economic climate in the mountains of Central Appalachia as the coal industry enters a period of decline and blames its woes on enforcement actions by the current administration.
