Tagged: coal

The Hindustan Times is reporting that a government investigation in India could put the huge Kentucky-India coal deal in question. This is the $7 billion trade deal that was announced last month to much fanfare.

The Sierra Club is planning a rally at noon today at the University of Kentucky to protest the ties between the school's athletic department and the coal industry.

UK and the coal industry have a fairly close relationship--the men's basketball dorm is called the Wildcat Coal Lodge, after coal industry contributions, and there have been prominent coal advertisements during some athletic events.

A pilot project to capture and store carbon dioxide has begun at a power plant in Alabama. The effort at the Barry Electric Generating Station began in full at the end of last month.

The plant is big, and the carbon-capture apparatus is small, so only about one percent of the flue gas is actually being captured. But the fact that the carbon dioxide is also being transported about 12 miles through a pipeline and sequestered deep in the earth is an important step for the technology.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is reporting increases in the number of miners who have filed discrimination complaints after reporting safety violations.

Federal law protects miners who report unsafe working conditions to employers, or refuse to work until the problem is fixed. But Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main says that after the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia two years ago, it was obvious many miners were afraid to exercise their rights.