No Union Mines Left Where Labor Wars Once Raged
Harlan, Ky. — Kentucky coal miners bled and died to unionize. Their workplaces became war zones, and gun battles once punctuated union protests. In past decades, organizers have been beaten, stabbed and shot while seeking better pay and safer conditions deep underground. But more recently the United Mine Workers in Kentucky have been in retreat, dwindling like the black seams of coal in the Appalachian mountains. And now the last...
EPA Knew of ‘Blowout’ Risk At Gold Mine
Washington — U.S. officials knew of the potential for a catastrophic “blowout” of toxic wastewater from an inactive gold mine, yet appeared to have only a cursory plan to deal with such an event when government contractors triggered a 3 million gallon spill, according to internal documents released by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA released the documents late Friday following weeks of prodding from The Associated Press...
Colo. Mine Spill Worse Than Thought
Albuquerque, n.m. — Farmers, towns and tribes slammed water-intake gates shut as a sludge-laden plume from a Colorado mine spill rolled down principal rivers in the desert Southwest on Monday, prompting local officials and families to demand answers about possible long-term threats from heavy metals borne along by the spill. Colorado and New Mexico declared stretches of the Animas and San Juan rivers to be disaster areas as the...
Oil-Sands Plans on Decline
Calgary, Alberta — The era of the megaproject in Canada’s oil sands is fading. Crude’s price slump, pressure to get off fossil fuels and tax increases in Alberta are adding to high costs and a lack of pipelines, prompting producers from Suncor Energy Inc. to Imperial Oil Ltd. to accelerate a shift to smaller projects. Companies are deferring new mines in favor of cheaper, bite-sized drilling programs that deliver quicker returns and...
