Green Options » coal mines

No New Coal: Help List All Proposed Coal Mines in the US

Alex Felsinger — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:29:24 +0000

With the recent successes in stopping the further expansion of coal-based energy, activists direly need a complete list of proposed mining projects.

While SourceWatch.org already hosts the CoalSwarm database with all sorts of information about coal plants across different states, it’s lacking information on proposed coal mines. Legal opposition and community protests have been shown to work, so if you live in a coal mining area please add any known projects to this wiki list.

Read more of this story »

Anti-Coal Movement Celebrates Big Win in North Dakota

Alex Felsinger — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:21:31 +0000

When a new coal preparation plant decided to begin construction without first securing a permit, Plains Justice with the Dakota Resource Council and local residents jumped at the opportunity to file a complaint against the company.

With the complaint challenging the plant’s construction, Great Northern Power Development withdrew its application for a new coal mine that was to work in conjunction with the plant. But the victory is bigger than one plant — it has repercussions for coal mining across North Dakota.

Read more of this story »

EPA Stops Mountaintop Removal; Waterways Still Not Safe?

Alex Felsinger — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:35:54 +0000

Just days after news leaked that Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency will designate CO2 as a pollutant, the EPA has announced that hundreds of mountaintop removal coal mining permits will be put on hold while their impact on streams and waterways is evaluated.

Mountaintop removal is a controversial method of extracting coal that literally blows the tops off mountains to access the coal underneath. The waste is then dumped in streams and wetlands, which has alarmed environmentalists and community activists.

Read more of this story »

Coal Mine Forgets Where They Moved Great-Grandma’s Grave

Alex Felsinger — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:31:11 +0000

In coal mining country, companies are encroaching more and more into old graveyards for the coal underneath. Unfortunately, they’re not the best at keeping track of the bodies they remove from the ground.

Walter Young, a 63-year-old man from Pigeon Creek, West Virginia, told the Associated Press that he went to check on the site of his great-grandmother’s grave one day only to find that the entire cemetery was gone. And upon questioning the coal mining company, no one had any clue where his relative’s grave had been moved.

Read more of this story »