Coal

In eastern Kentucky, coal mines are closing, putting thousands out of work.

The main problem is that Kentucky coal is played out and expensive to mine.

Coal may be synonymous with pollution but as coal historian Barbara Freese found, that wasn’t always the case.

China has some of the worst smog in the world – impacting the lives of more than a billion people as well as the bottom line for the world’s second biggest economy.

U.S. coal producers hope to export coal from the Pacific Northwest to China. The world’s second biggest economy burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. That’s generated record levels of air pollution in China, and polluted waterways, too.

U.S. coal companies have hit hard times. Domestic demand is drying up, and global prices for coal are hitting record lows. What to do? The industry is looking across the Pacific to China for help, and is planning to build coal terminals in Washington to export coal from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the world’s second-biggest economy. But is China interested in American coal?

The Crow tribe in the Powder River Basin has one coal mine on its reservation, but poverty among tribal members remains high. The tribe would like more mining.

Strip mines in the Powder Ridge Basin of Wyoming and Montana are isolated and out of sight. Their efforts to expand exports of coal to Asia are making them more visible.

This month federal regulators are expected to come out with new rules around Black Lung. Mine owners have argued against stricter regulations. It's been decades since major changes were made in standards for coal dust exposure.

Fifty-seven Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest have come together to oppose plans to build coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington State.