NewsTrust - Mining - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Charles Scott Howard: The Miner Who Took On Big Coal

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Dave Jamieson - Sep. 14 (News Report) - On a July morning four years ago, Charles Scott Howard left his home in the mountains of Southeastern Kentucky and drove his pickup truck 150 miles to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Lexington. A career coal miner, Howard was headed to the posh hotel to testify at a public hearing held by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), a regulatory arm of the U.S. Department of Labor.

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Stoking Fire: Mountaintop Coal Mining Leads to Birth Defects, Respiratory Illness and Other Health Problems | Truthout

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By Eleanor J. Bader - Sep. 04 (Investigative Report) - As mountaintop removal [MTR] has horned-in on underground mining, the health maladies of residents of eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and southwest West Virginia—Appalachia—have begun to pile up.

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Agence Global

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

agenceglobal.com - By David Bacon - Jun. 17 (News) - When the Mexican government moved to bust the three-year miners' strike in Cananea on June 6, it brought 2,000 Federal Police into the tiny mountain town in the state of Sonora -- two cops for every striker. As darkness fell and helicopters clattered overhead, they charged the gate with riot shields and batons, filling the streets with tear gas. Miners retreated to the union hall with their families, and the police followed, barricading the doors and lobbing more tear gas inside. The union's leaders were already in hiding, since the police had arrest warrants for them all. Manny Armenta, an organizer for the United Steel Workers who's probably spent more time in Cananea than at home in Arizona, helped lead women and children down fire escapes and through the basement to safety. The same day, police moved on the widows of sixty-five miners.......

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Peak Metals - What happens when we run out?

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

sbs.com.au - By Bill Code - Jun. 15 (News) - Put simply, the extraction of virgin ores from the earth's crust will peak - indeed, it already has for many. Although the theory is not without its detractors, there is no doubt that the metals that drive our society are finite resources - and extracting them from the earth has to end.

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MSHA mine disaster interviews to be closed to public

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Charleston Gazette - By Ken Ward, Jr. - May. 06 (News Report) - Federal investigators will conduct key portions of their probe of the Upper Big Banch Mine disaster behind closed doors, but will plan a series of public events the Obama administration said would "bolster transparency and openness."...The UMW, Massey, at least two miners' widows and a coalition of media organizations, including The Charleston Gazette, had called for MSHA to hold the witness interviews in a public hearing.

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Mesa 18: Dissident Groups Host Alternative Meeting Outside World People's Climate Summit

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 22 (News Report) - A few blocks from the main entrance to the university where the people's climate summit is taking place, hundreds of Bolivian and Latin American environmentalists have been crowding into a single hall to participate in discussions that they say were too controversial for the actual summit. Dubbed "mesa 18" or "working group 18," the discussions were focused on the environmental destruction inside Bolivia caused by development projects, mining, and oil and gas exploration promoted by the Morales government. On Wednesday afternoon Anjali Kamat spoke to Moira Millan, an indigenous Mapuche activist from southern Argentina.

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Don Blankenship: Investors, Politicians Begin Calling For Massey Head To Resign

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Apr. 13 (News Report) - The calls to oust Massey Energy Company Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship began in earnest Monday, with members of both the private and public sectors getting involved. The CtW Investment Group sent a letter to Massey's board of directors Monday afternoon demanding Blankenship's resignation in the wake of the disastrous explosion at the company's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

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West Virginia Mine Disaster

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Apr. 13 (News Analysis) - (The link gives a compendium of coverage of the explosion and deaths at the Massey mine. The collection is supposed to give a sample of good coverage, but the collection stories are not commented on. )

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Monday update: What kind of investigation will the Obama administration ...

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Charleston Gazette - By Ken Ward, Jr. - Apr. 12 (News Analysis) - Sometime this morning, investigators from state and federal agencies are expected to gather at the Mine Safety and Health Academy outside Beckley to begin planning their probe of the explosion one week ago that killed 29 coal miners at a Massey Energy mine in Raleigh County, W.Va. Investigators will start examining maps and mine files. They’ll divvy up tasks and chart a course for how to get started on a massive and enormously complex investigation that could take many months. But there are a few things they won’t do … They won’t be open to the public …

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Coal CEO Calls Mine Safety Rules: As Silly As Global Warming

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - Apr. 12 (Investigative Report) - With Video - Also in 2009, Blankenship complained that “politicians get emotional” about disasters and establish “nonsensical” safety rules.

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Concern over safety violations at West Virginia mine as rescue continues

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Free Speech Radio News - By Karen Miller - Apr. 08 (News Report) - Rescuers trying to reach four missing miners after an explosion at a West Virginia coal mine are retreating today. The state's governor, Joe Manchin, said noxious gas levels were still too high and the rescuers had to turn back. It has been four days since Monday’s violent explosion killed 25 people at the Big Branch Mine. The coal mine, owned by Massey Energy, has multiple federal violations. In fact, two safety violations were made against the mine on the very day of the deadly explosion.

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Massey Energy Mine Cited for 1,300+ Safety Violations in Years Leading up to Deadly Explosion

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 07 (News Analysis) - Well, you know, I listened to him say that some of these violations are not manmade...but.. I worked with Massey Energy...they broke laws every day to increase production. One of the major violations that happened was man made, because what we would do, would go up and we would destroy our ventilation system, that that would be the first thing we’d do. And that was removing the line curtain, which directed the air current up to the working place, which diluted the methane from building up and carries it harmlessly out of the mines

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Four years after reforms, why another mine disaster?

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Charleston Gazette - By Ken Ward, Jr. - Apr. 06 (News Analysis) - At least 25 miners died in a massive explosion at a Massey Energy mine....with four more miners still missing inside the Upper Big Branch Mine near Montcoal. How could this happen? "It tells me one of two things," said longtime mine safety crusader Davitt McAteer, who ran...[MSHA] during the Clinton years. "One, the law isn't being enforced or, two, the law didn't go far enough." By Tuesday, there was evidence that both could be true.

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Other dangerous mines? Federal data can't tell you

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group - By Anupama Narayanswamy - Apr. 06 (News) - ...he information is hidden behind a cumbersome search interface, one that's geared more to users who know the name of the mine or the company that operates it (Performance Coal Co.) rather than the owner (in this case, Massey Energy). Also, none of the data can be downloaded in any format; the only way to get access to the raw data is to cut and paste it in a spreadsheet. Doing any kind of comparative analysis is impossible, because results are available one at a time. Releasing aggregate underlying data, by state or even by year would be extremely useful. Having the data available would allow journalists to map the mines with the most violations, and identify operators and owners with the worst safety records.

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25 Miners Dead in WV Coal Mine Explosion, Massey Energy Mine Cited for Hundreds of Safety Violations

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Maria Gunnoe - Apr. 06 (News Report) - In West Virginia, twenty-five coal miners have died after a huge explosion at a Massey Energy mine in Raleigh County. It was the worst mining disaster in the United States in more than a quarter-century. The Massey-owned mine was cited for 458 safety violations last year, and federal inspectors fined Massey more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment.

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Labor War in the Mojave

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Mike Davis - Mar. 11 (Special Report) - The multinational mining giant Rio Tinto has uprooted unions, slashed wages and abused employees all over the world. Now workers at its California facility are fighting a lockout.

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Uranium mine leak '5400 times normal level'

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Australian Broadcasting - By Emma Masters - Feb. 09 (News Report) - Contaminated water seeping from a mine in Kakadu National Park has a uranium concentration more than 5,000 times the normal level, a Senate estimates committee has heard. The Office of the Supervising Scientist is the environmental regulator of the Ranger uranium mine, which is owned by Energy Resources of Australia.

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Radiation Exposure from 50 Years of Uranium Mining Continues to Affect Spokane Indian Reservation

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Twa-le Abrahamson - Apr. 21 (Special Report) - The Spokane Reservation is about forty-five miles northwest of the city of Spokane. And when the mines opened, the workforce was largely tribal people, and a lot of women worked in the mines at that time. And so, we’ve heard a lot of stories of women that worked there that were placed in certain positions because they were over childbearing age. And we’ve lost a lot of our people to illnesses related to—which we feel are related to the mine and the contaminants at the mine.

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Mining Exploration in Vietnam: China's New Strategy of Expansionism

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New America Media - By Thi Lam - Apr. 12 (News Analysis) - In November 2007, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reportedly approved China's large-scale project to mine aluminum ore, or bauxite, in the Central Highlands in exchange for financial aid. The decision of the communist party triggered a torrent of criticisms and objections from scientists, intellectuals, military and religious leaders.

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Concerns Rise Over Leak at Uranium Mine

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Stephen de Tarczynski - Apr. 04 (News Report) - The revelation that a substantial amount of contaminated water is leaking each day from a tailings dam at a uranium mine, located in a World Heritage Site, has sparked protests from environment activists.

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Midnight Reg Watch: In Turnabout, EPA Allows Mining Debris Near Streams

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

ProPublica - By Joaquin Sapien - Dec. 08 (Investigative Report) - "Ignoring its own scientific study, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that dumping debris from coal mining into mountain streams doesn't conflict with the Clean Water Act -- a reversal that clears the way for a new Bush administration rule that critics call a gift to mining interests."

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Bush rushes to open Grand Canyon to toxic uranium mining

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Brad Johnson - Oct. 15 (News Report) - The Arizona Republic explains what's at stake: Never mind that the drinking water of more than 25 million people, served by the Colorado River, is at risk ... Or that Arizona Game and Fish warns about the impact on wildlife ... Or that Grand Canyon National Park is still dealing with the toxic mess from past mines ...

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Northern Exposure

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Sheila Kaplan, Marilyn Berlin Snell - Oct. 08 (Special Report) - Unfortunately, as governor of a state with a birth-defect rate that's twice the national average, and which has the gloomy status as repository of toxic chemicals from around the world, Palin has pursued environmental policies that seem perfectly crafted to swell the ranks of special-needs kids. It's true that Alaska's top leaders have placed industry wishes over environmental protection for years. But, instead of correcting this problem, she's compounded it. Peer into her environmental record, and Palin ends up looking a lot like George W. Bush.

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Tennesse mine enriched Gore, scarred land

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 05:50:02 -0700

Tennessean.com - By Bill Theobald - Mar. 18 (News Report) - Al Gore has profited from zinc mining that has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances near his farmstead, but there is no evidence the mine has caused serious damage ...

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