Tagged: coal

Today is the third anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, where 29 coal miners were killed in Montcoal, West Virginia. On April 5, 2010—a Monday, the day after Easter—the Massey Energy-owned mine exploded.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and environmental groups are still at odds over proposed changes to Kentucky’s water quality standard for a substance called selenium. The state released its revised proposal today.

Selenium is a naturally occurring element that is released into waterways during mountaintop removal mining.  Studies have found it's toxic to aquatic life, and high-level exposure has been linked to health problems in humans.

New data from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet shows that coal production is down in Eastern Kentucky from previous years, and the region’s workforce is suffering.

Coal production dropped more than 27 percent from 2011 to 2012 in Eastern Kentucky. This is the lowest production has been in the region since 1965. And as expected, coal mine employment fell in Eastern Kentucky too, by nearly 30 percent from the 2011 levels.

A lawyer in Eastern Kentucky has announced his plans to file suit against the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet for allegedly not enforcing its own orders. The suit stems from the cabinet’s 2008 finding that a coal company was responsible for destroying the water supply in a small Letcher County town.