Coal
Government, Private Watchdog Groups Call for End to Self-Bonding by Coal Companies
"Since passage of the federal surface-mine law in 1977, coal companies have been on the hook to reclaim disturbed land when mining ends. Too many of them have wriggled off through bankruptcy, say reports from conservation groups and the federal government."
Some former coal towns turn to nature tourism as a new economic driver
"There’s a national storyline about West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania, and it goes something like this: As the steel and coal industries fade, small towns are dying out. But for the past twenty years, some entrepreneurs have quietly been working on a different narrative, one that harnesses the natural beauty in these areas to build the economy. About 10 years ago, after being downsized from a job in computer sales, Rod Darby wanted control of his career. He drew up a business plan for a pub and restaurant in West Newton, a small Pennsylvania town along the still-developing Great Allegheny Passage. The GAP bike trail, as its known, stretches 150 miles, from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland. Darby shopped his pub idea around."
Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever Of Fatal Coal Miners’ Disease
"Epidemiologists at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health say they've identified the largest cluster of advanced black lung disease ever reported, a cluster that was first uncovered by NPR 14 months ago. In a research letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, NIOSH confirms 416 cases of progressive massive fibrosis or complicated black lung in three clinics in central Appalachia from 2013 to 2017. "This is the largest cluster of progressive massive fibrosis ever reported in the scientific literature," says Scott Laney, a NIOSH epidemiologist involved in the study. "We've gone from having nearly eradicated PMF in the mid-1990s to the highest concentration of cases that anyone has ever seen," he said.
I’m Surprised That More New Yorkers Don’t Heat with Coal
When you read about the shortages of natural gas and delayed deliveries of propane and oil during the latest cold snap, ❄ you have to wonder why more New Yorkers 🏠 don’t choose to heat with anthracite or bituminous coal.
Coal has a lot of advantages for home heating. It’s relatively inexpensive and once a coal fire is built it lasts for a long time and puts out an intense heat. 🔥 Many coal stoves don’t require any electricity. Their mechanisms are simple and reliable. It’s like wood heat – only better. Sure it takes a little bit skill to start a coal fire and bank the coals, but once a coal stove is operating it can go for a day or longer with minimal work.
But probably the biggest advantage to coal is it is a secure fuel, like wood is, only with less work. You can have coal delivered to your house for the whole winter, and placed in a large pile. But if you have a pickup truck, you don’t have to have coal delivered. You can get a pickup truck load of coal from one of many coal retailers including many hardware stores and garden supply stores.🚚 You aren’t reliant on a single coal supplier to get your coal from if you haul your own coal.
Farming and rural areas more commonly use coal for heat, especially in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes.🐮 You see lots of places selling coal there, ready to be purchased and hauled to your home or farm. Sure you can get coal delivered but the fact that you have the ability to shop around and haul your own coal home is a major advantage that people often overlook when choosing a heating fuel for their home.
If wood heat isn’t practical, I know that I would definitely look towards coal for heating a home.🌲 Coal is not renewable and its also a fossil fuel that emits carbon but so is oil, gas and propane. But unlike those other fossil fuels, coal can be stored on-site to provide a homeowner with heat throughout the winter, no matter how cold. Reliability and having a fuel supply you can haul with your own vehicle is a good thing to have in the bank. 🏦
Federal commission kills Trump’s plan to save coal plants
The 100-year capitalist experiment that keeps Appalachia poor, sick, and stuck on coal — Quartz
"Ask most Americans what they know about coal in central Appalachia, and they’ll tell you it’s a dying industry—one that US president Donald Trump famously vowed to revive during the 2016 election. “We’re going to put those miners back to work. We’re going to get those mines open … I see over here a sign, it says ‘Trump digs coal.’ It’s true. I do,” he told a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, in May 2016. “You’re going to be working your asses off.”
"But the idea that the region’s coal industry is dying is not quite true. For much of the hundred-plus years of its existence, the industry has been on a kind of artificial life support, as state and federal governments have, directly and indirectly, subsidized coal companies to keep the industry afloat."
"The costs of this subsidy aren’t tallied on corporate or government balance sheets. The destruction of central Appalachia’s economy, environment, social fabric and, ultimately, its people’s health is, in a sense, hidden. But they’re plain enough to see on a map. It could be lung cancer deaths you’re looking at, or diabetes mortality. Or try opioid overdoses. Poverty. Welfare dependency. Chart virtually any measure of human struggle, and there it will be, just right of center on a map of the US—a distinct blotch. This odd cluster is consistently one of America’s worst pockets of affliction."