SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"And far from the "coal is dead" trope that well-meaning environmental observers stress now, another fact is that our nation is on track to mine 785 million tons of coal this year. That ain't dead." (Photo: Maria Gunnoe Flight courtesy of southwings.org)
Coal Kills And Coal Is Not Dead
What’s more mind-boggling than a climate denier—a clean energy denier.
Oct 27, 2017
Amid all the "war on coal" and climate denial banter, you never hear one basic fact from either side: Coal kills.
And far from the "coal is dead" trope that well-meaning environmental observers stress now, another fact is that our nation is on track to mine 785 million tons of coal this year. That ain't dead.
The glib oversight of these two basic facts of life disregards the heroic efforts of folks across the country who live daily with the deadly and toxic fallout of strip mining, coal slurry impoundments, coal ash and black lung disease, which still robs three miners daily of their lives.
Coal country lives daily with the historical trauma of coal mining--our misrepresentation of its reality just adds another lay of despair.
Another coal miner died this week--the 14th this year, in what is becoming a deadly rise.
And yet, the Trump appointee to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration comes from a coal company that was cited for "patterns of violations."
More than two dozen peer-reviewed studies have found an extraordinary human health crisis from mountaintop removal mining, including higher rates of cancer and heart problems.
And yet, the Trump administration has halted a long overdue study-in-progress by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining--as if the lives of children and families living amid the silica dust and contaminated waterways don't matter.
Two years ago, over 200,000 people signed a historic petition asking federal officials to enact a moratorium on radical strip mining until the health impacts could be studied. End result: No media coverage. Nothing. Just more "war on coal" or "coal is dead" stories.
This week, the Trump appointee to lead the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement is not only a proponent of mountaintop removal mining, but he wrote in a recent op-ed that "there is no such thing as renewable energy."
What's more mind-boggling than a climate denier--a clean energy denier.
It gets worse: Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry recently issued a bizarre Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to lock in coal fuel requirements for power plants.
Earlier this year, a Forbes news commentator wrote that coal was so clean you could make butter out of it--just like Nazi Germany did. The column seemed like such a sick joke then.
Now it haunts me like a slogan for our current disregard of the industry's deadly realities: Let them eat coal.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy, and other works of history.
Amid all the "war on coal" and climate denial banter, you never hear one basic fact from either side: Coal kills.
And far from the "coal is dead" trope that well-meaning environmental observers stress now, another fact is that our nation is on track to mine 785 million tons of coal this year. That ain't dead.
The glib oversight of these two basic facts of life disregards the heroic efforts of folks across the country who live daily with the deadly and toxic fallout of strip mining, coal slurry impoundments, coal ash and black lung disease, which still robs three miners daily of their lives.
Coal country lives daily with the historical trauma of coal mining--our misrepresentation of its reality just adds another lay of despair.
Another coal miner died this week--the 14th this year, in what is becoming a deadly rise.
And yet, the Trump appointee to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration comes from a coal company that was cited for "patterns of violations."
More than two dozen peer-reviewed studies have found an extraordinary human health crisis from mountaintop removal mining, including higher rates of cancer and heart problems.
And yet, the Trump administration has halted a long overdue study-in-progress by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining--as if the lives of children and families living amid the silica dust and contaminated waterways don't matter.
Two years ago, over 200,000 people signed a historic petition asking federal officials to enact a moratorium on radical strip mining until the health impacts could be studied. End result: No media coverage. Nothing. Just more "war on coal" or "coal is dead" stories.
This week, the Trump appointee to lead the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement is not only a proponent of mountaintop removal mining, but he wrote in a recent op-ed that "there is no such thing as renewable energy."
What's more mind-boggling than a climate denier--a clean energy denier.
It gets worse: Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry recently issued a bizarre Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to lock in coal fuel requirements for power plants.
Earlier this year, a Forbes news commentator wrote that coal was so clean you could make butter out of it--just like Nazi Germany did. The column seemed like such a sick joke then.
Now it haunts me like a slogan for our current disregard of the industry's deadly realities: Let them eat coal.
Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy, and other works of history.
Amid all the "war on coal" and climate denial banter, you never hear one basic fact from either side: Coal kills.
And far from the "coal is dead" trope that well-meaning environmental observers stress now, another fact is that our nation is on track to mine 785 million tons of coal this year. That ain't dead.
The glib oversight of these two basic facts of life disregards the heroic efforts of folks across the country who live daily with the deadly and toxic fallout of strip mining, coal slurry impoundments, coal ash and black lung disease, which still robs three miners daily of their lives.
Coal country lives daily with the historical trauma of coal mining--our misrepresentation of its reality just adds another lay of despair.
Another coal miner died this week--the 14th this year, in what is becoming a deadly rise.
And yet, the Trump appointee to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration comes from a coal company that was cited for "patterns of violations."
More than two dozen peer-reviewed studies have found an extraordinary human health crisis from mountaintop removal mining, including higher rates of cancer and heart problems.
And yet, the Trump administration has halted a long overdue study-in-progress by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining--as if the lives of children and families living amid the silica dust and contaminated waterways don't matter.
Two years ago, over 200,000 people signed a historic petition asking federal officials to enact a moratorium on radical strip mining until the health impacts could be studied. End result: No media coverage. Nothing. Just more "war on coal" or "coal is dead" stories.
This week, the Trump appointee to lead the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement is not only a proponent of mountaintop removal mining, but he wrote in a recent op-ed that "there is no such thing as renewable energy."
What's more mind-boggling than a climate denier--a clean energy denier.
It gets worse: Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry recently issued a bizarre Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to lock in coal fuel requirements for power plants.
Earlier this year, a Forbes news commentator wrote that coal was so clean you could make butter out of it--just like Nazi Germany did. The column seemed like such a sick joke then.
Now it haunts me like a slogan for our current disregard of the industry's deadly realities: Let them eat coal.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.