Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of The United States of Appalachia, and more recently, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland (The Nation/Basic Books). Follow him on twitter: @JeffRBiggers
Articles by this author
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Views Sunday, March 26, 2017 Let Us Now Praise A Coal Miner: Chuck Nelson Is An American Hero Among the hundreds of coal miners I have interviewed over the years, retired coal miner Chuck Nelson has always been among the most fearless truth-tellers in the coal country of West Virginia. An indefatigable presence at hearings, meetings, media briefings, and in his beloved mountains, Nelson’s... Read more |
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Views Thursday, March 09, 2017 Call It What It Is: Climate Cover-Up, Not Climate Denial Today’s remarks by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt that human activity is not “a primary contributor to the global warming that we see” should effectively bring an end to the term formerly known as “climate denial.” Dear media: Call it what it is—a climate cover-up. As our nation’s top official... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, October 19, 2016 Mountaintop Removal Never Ended: Coal River Mountaineers Fight On Standing in solidarity with the water protectors on the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, Coal River Mountain residents already fending off seven square miles of devastating mountaintop removal mining permits are planning a protest on Monday at the Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston,... Read more |
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Views Saturday, October 08, 2016 Hillbilly Shuffle: Don't Blame Appalachia For Trump The phenomenon of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, we’ve been told for months in the media, has been fueled by the coal-fired alienation and anger of the nation’s working-class whites. Appalachia, more than any other region, has been targeted as ground zero. And J.D. Vance’s best-selling and... Read more |
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Views Friday, April 01, 2016 Spare Me Your Coal Requiems: Time for a Reckoning With Peabody and Coal Industry As Peabody Energy teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, edging toward a Chapter II reorganization that will most likely allow it to walk away from massive reclamation and mine worker commitments, a flurry of poetic musings and giddy celebrations over of the death of Big Coal has begun to flow. Spare... Read more |
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Views Thursday, December 03, 2015 Reckoning in Appalachia: Why Coal Mining Outlaw Don Blankenship's Conviction Matters The landmark conviction of former Massey Energy CEO and coal baron Don Blankenship today on a misdemeanor conspiracy charge to violate mine safety laws is a small, but historic first step in holding mining outlaws accountable for their reckless operations. For the first time in memory for those of... Read more |
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Views Friday, October 16, 2015 When Will Obama Recognize the Coal-Fueled Health Emergency in Appalachia? President Obama's visit to address the drug epidemic in West Virginia on Oct. 21st falls on the anniversary of a historic coal slurry disaster that symbolizes another Appalachian emergency health crisis: Cancer-linked fallout and toxic coal slurry from reckless mountaintop removal operations. Ever... Read more |
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Views Friday, August 28, 2015 Call It What It Is: A Global Migration Shift From Climate, Not a Migrant or Refugee Crisis Hundreds more died off the coast of Libya today, on the heels of 71 death s of migrants trapped in the back of a truck near Vienna, Austria. At the same time, NASA officials just warned that rising global sea levels from climate change could affect coastal regions, including 150 million residents... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 16, 2015 Day of Reckoning in Appalachia: Legendary Coal Miner Calls for "Insane" Mountaintop Removal to End With mountaintop removal mining on the ropes , as the last bank financiers ditch lending support amid new scientific research that demonstrates "solid evidence that dust collected from residential areas near mountaintop removal sites causes cancerous changes to human lung cells," residents from... Read more |
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Views Saturday, March 14, 2015 Mountaintop Removal On the Ropes: 1,000 People Needed for Moratorium Push A reinvigorated "People's Foot" movement to end mountaintop removal is ramping up its efforts next week , as the last vestiges of outside support begin to abandon the nation's most egregious strip mining operations in central Appalachia. "Mountaintop removal is on the ropes," said Bob Kincaid, with... Read more |