Tagged: coal

Third District Congressman John Yarmuth has signed on to a bill that would require an analysis of the health effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. The bill would also put a moratorium on new mountaintop removal mines until the practice is proven to be safe.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the Senate this morning on the Environmental Protection Agency's Utility MACT (or Maximum Achievable Control Technology) Rule, which would require power plants to control emissions of mercury and other toxic substances. McConnell's press office's Twitter feed offered a preview of his remarks:

A new analysis of Kentucky’s energy potential shows renewable sources could provide more than a third of the state’s energy by 2025. It points to several renewable sources—including solar, hydro and biomass—that aren’t being tapped to their full potential.  

An Eastern Kentucky coal miner can return to work after a judge ruled he was unfairly fired from his job. The decision affirms the rights of coal miners to report unsafe working conditions without fear of retribution.

Charles Scott Howard was injured while working at a mine operated by Cumberland River Coal Company in Eastern Kentucky. The complaint alleges that even after he was cleared by doctors to return to work, the coal company took extreme steps to keep him from working.

A new study shows that black lung disease isn’t limited to coal miners who work underground.

Studies for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis—or black lung disease—haven’t been done on surface miners in a decade, and the miners were commonly thought to be less at risk for the disease than underground workers. Surface mines are open to the air, after all, and underground coal mines have frequent dust issues caused by mining in constricted spaces without much ventilation.

Louisville's Air Pollution Control District will hold a public hearing tomorrow to let residents weigh in on two pending air pollution permits.

Over the past two years, the EPA has filed specific objections to 36 surface mining permits previously approved by the state of Kentucky to mining companies that wanted to dump waste into streams in Eastern Kentucky. This week, there were public hearings on the EPA's objection to the permits in both Frankfort and Pikeville, and the EPA is accepting written comments until June 21.