West Virginia
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Report: Coal Industry Harms TN and WV More Than It Helps
Two reports released this week reveal that when it comes to the bottom line of state budgets, the coal industry costs Tennessee and West Virginia more than it provides. These reports are among the first to examine actual revenues and expenditures related to coal industry employment, taxes and subsidies in Tennessee and West Virginia. Downstream […]
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Chairman Rockefeller knows better
Sen. Jay Rockefeller.On Tuesday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) issued a statement saying that he will vote for the Murkowski resolution because it is “a vote for a strong West Virginia economy.” I don’t doubt Sen. Rockefeller’s commitment to West Virginians, but it’s simply appalling that the Chairman of the Senate Science Committee plans to vote […]
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Coal: Good News, and An Opportunity for More
I’ve got two good news pieces this week – and one issue that needs your help. Last week our Michigan Chapter and everyone who loves clean air and clean energy got some great news when the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (MDNRE) denied a permit for the proposed Wolverine coal-fired power plant.We’re […]
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Has coal’s strongest defender had a change of heart?
The elders of the U.S. Senate usually aren’t good people to look to for signs of hope and change. But Robert Byrd, the 92-year-old senator from West Virginia, is making some surprising statements lately. After a career as a loyal coal-industry defender, Byrd made headlines last year by calling on the industry to “embrace the […]
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Don Blankenship called safety regulators ‘as silly as global warming’
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union […]
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Before the Massey mine disaster, there was Crandall Canyon
I’m reposting an essay I wrote in 2007 about another mine disaster. It’s relevant to what’s happening now in West Virginia. In March 2007, I testified before a House subcommittee on energy and mineral resources about the impact of climate change on public lands. There were seven witnesses, and one was Robert Murray, founder of […]
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This week in comically evil corporate behavior
Updated It’s only Wednesday and we’ve already got way more than a week’s worth of comically evil behavior from the fossil-fuel sector. Item the first: A Chinese coal freighter tried to take a shortcut through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and rammed into the world-reknowned ecological treasure. The stranded ship remains in danger of […]
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Massey’s mine in Montcoal has been cited for over 3,000 violations, over $2.2 million in fines
Cross-posted from Think Progress. Massey Energy is actively contesting millions of dollars of fines for safety violations at its West Virginia coal mine where disaster struck yesterday afternoon. Twenty-five miners were killed and another four are missing after a explosion took place at 3 pm Monday at Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co.’s Upper Big Branch […]
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‘Britain’s Appalachia’ engineers a brighter post-coal future
Can renewable energy turn Wales as clean and shiny as the Cardiff waterfront?Courtesy ttfnrob via FlickrThe sparkling, sanitized waterfront of Cardiff, Wales, reveals barely a hint of the country’s grimy industrial past. Where one of the busiest ports anywhere once shipped Welsh coal out into the world, a complex of upscale shops, pubs, and restaurants […]
