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Coal Jobs Rise, Media Blames Trump

Via The Charleston Gazette-Mail: Here’s one irony emerging from the tumultuous early months of the Trump administration. The president’s support for the coal industry, and his rollback of costly federal regulations, is gradually helping put coal communities back on their feet. But the president isn’t getting any credit for it. In fact, instead of recognizing […]

Rick Perry to Issue Major Electric Grid Study by Month’s End

Via The Washington Examiner: Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday that he expects to release a major study on the reliability of the electric grid by the end of June. Perry told a House Appropriations Committee budget panel that the study will show the state of the nation’s “baseload” power plants, which typically include plants […]

Coal’s Decline Spreads Far Beyond Appalachia

Via The Wall Street Journal: SOMERSET, Mass.—Far from the mines of Appalachia, the decline of coal is hitting communities that relied on coal-fired power plants for jobs and income. During the past five years, roughly 350 coal-fired generating units shut down across the U.S., ranging from small units at factories to huge power plants, according […]

Former Dem Congressman: End the War on Coal

Via The Hill: Very few members of Congress have actually shoveled tons upon tons of coal. I have. I started working in a coal yard at the age of 13 and I know what coal has meant to the development of this great country and the comfort of its people. I later had the honor […]

Don’t be So Quick to Dismiss Trump’s Coal Mining Initiative

Via The New York Post: ACOSTA, PA. — On a warm June morning, a large crowd gathered in the lush, gentle folds of the Allegheny Mountains to hear President Donald Trump live on video. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be speaking with you on this great, great day,” he said. “The miners of Pennsylvania are mining […]

Hope is Important for the Deep South Coalfield Counties

Via The Bluefield Daily Telegraph:  As I scanned through our internal online archives, I found the headlines to be both alarming and depressing. I was looking for story ideas, and subsequently found myself perusing through several years of older articles. These older articles told the story of a region fighting for survival against an administration […]

The Light They Will Not See

June 15, 2017 Look hard enough at politics and you will always find irony. That’s why it “makes strange bedfellows.” Here’s one recent example. President Trump’s support for the coal industry, together with his regulatory re-set that helped to revive it, has made coal a surrogate for him – a president the major media deeply […]

A Few Positive Signs for the State’s Economy

Via The West Virginia MetroNews: The biggest reason Governor Justice and lawmakers are sweating out the budget for next fiscal year is that coal and natural gas severance tax collections have plummeted. According to the state budget office In fiscal year 2014, those industries paid $489 million into the state’s General Revenue Fund.  Two years later, the […]