Trump administration spending $625m to revive dying coal industry

White House allocating 13.1m acres of public land to coal mining, which has been on rapid decline over past 30 years…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/29/trump-spending-coal-industry

 

How Black Lung Came Roaring Back to Coal Country - The New York Times

Once nearly eradicated, the "old man's disease" is back and suffocating younger miners. Federal cuts risk putting a solution further out of reach...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/well/black-lung-appalachia-coal-miners.html

 

McConnell Said No to Money for Miners, Yes to Russian-Backed Plant - The Daily Beast

The Senate majority leader worked to keep money out of Kentucky coal miners' hands—even as he maneuvered to steer federal cash to an aluminum plant connected to a Putin ally.....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnell-blocked-millions-for-coal-miners-steered-funds-to-russian-backed-plant

West Virginia Coal Miners: WAKE UP!

https://youtu.be/WrHvtbNkZGU

Third-largest coal producer in the US files for bankruptcy - Ars Technica

The company staved off bankruptcy for years but continued to face lean markets...
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/05/third-largest-coal-producer-in-the-us-files-for-bankruptcy/

GOP lawmaker withdraws invite for AOC to visit Kentucky mine - NBC News

"GOP's getting scared that up close, their constituents will realize I'm fighting harder for their healthcare than their own Reps," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-s-getting-scared-ocasio-cortez-swipes-back-after-republican-n995501

Coal consumption on track for four-decade low - The Hill

The United States is on track for the lowest yearly coal consumption in nearly four decades, the federal government said Tuesday. ....
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/419701-coal-consumption-on-track-for-four-decade-low

Study shows in detail the extent of coal industry's devastating mountaintop removals - Daily Kos

The most devastating form of surface mining—which literally involves blowing the tops off mountains to get at narrow seams of coal—has inflicted astounding damage to the Appalachian landscape and communities near these mines. ....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1784009

Another coal company caught faking safety data, as mining areas suffer an epidemic of black lung - Daily Kos

In 2008, I watched as my father-in-law spent weeks in the hospital, passed into a coma, and eventually died from heart issues directly related to long-term effects of progressive massive fibrosis, also known as coalworker's pneumoconiosis. Also know as black lung disease. He was far from unique. ....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1779946

Diving Deep Into Coal Country With 'Embedded' (David Wright, On Point)

A year after President Trump said coal is back, NPR’s Kelly McEvers goes deep inside coal country for the podcast “Embedded.”
Interview:
http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2018/05/17/diving-deep-into-coal-country-with-embedded

West Virginia Republicans Are Getting Behind a Candidate So Odious, Even Trump Won’t Go Near Him - Slate

At the end of an hourlong event in West Virginia on Thursday, Donald Trump polled the crowd about whom they would like to see win next month's Republican primary for U.S. Senate. "Should we do a little test?" asked the president, who was flanked by the two establishment-approved candidates, state attorney general Patrick Morrisey and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins. "Who's voting for Patrick? Who's voting for Evan?" ....
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/04/don-blankenship-threatens-to-spoil-the-gop-senate-race-between-patrick-morrisey-and-evan-jenkins.html

Pennsylvania coal mine closes as Trump's promises to miners go up in smoke

The people who actually do dig coal are going to be digging less of it as another coal mine closes....
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/1/11/1731937/-Pennsylvania-coal-mine-closes-as-Trump-s-promises-to-miners-go-up-in-smoke

Coal mining fatalities up sharply as Trump cuts safety regulations, cripples MSHA

No matter what the signs say, Donald Trump does not “dig coal.” Trump may do favors for coal mine owners, but the actual digging is left to the nation’s small number of coal miners. Since Trump took office, the number of mining jobs has gone up. But it hasn’t doubled, no matter what lies Scott Pruitt tries to spread. Instead, jobs in mining increased from about 50,300 when Trump took office, to 51,900 in October—an increase of about 3 percent. But something else has gone up much faster.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/24/1717298/-Coal-mining-fatalities-up-sharply-as-Trump-cuts-safety-regulations-cripples-MSHA

Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining -- Reuters

When Mike Sylvester entered a career training center earlier this year in southwestern Pennsylvania, he found more than one hundred federally funded courses covering everything from computer programming to nursing. ....

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-effect-coal-retraining-insight/awaiting-trumps-coal-comeback-miners-reject-retraining-idUSKBN1D14G0

West Virginia governor’s coal company waging intimidation campaign, state agency says -- ThinkProgress.org

The family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) is suing two top officials at the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources after the state tried to collect millions of dollars in unpaid fines from coal companies owned by Justice. ....
https://thinkprogress.org/jim-justice-coal-company-intimidation-843ca4ea20f4/

Trump says new Pennsylvania coal mine created 45,000 jobs. The actual number is 70.

Republicans have no problem lying to the American people and since the age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” it seems the deception has only gotten worse. During a White House event called the “Made in America product showcase,” Trump made some very inaccurate claims (to put it mildly)....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1681699

Donald Trump just keeps lying about coal

From the way Donald Trump keeps talking about coal, you would think he’s spent years underground with a pickax. But Trump’s connection to coal is simply that talking about it works for him. It provides a faux, working-man connection through an industry that most people associate with images they’ve only seen in films and the idea of industrial decline.

At Monday’s televised cabinet meeting, Trump against referenced “big stories” about a new mine opening. He also included this mine in his morning tweets. Not surprisingly, the tweet connects to a story on Fox News. What does that story say about the new mine?...
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1671028

Trump’s E.P.A. Chief Is Not Telling the Truth About Coal

The White House continues to struggle with basic math.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/trumps-epa-chief-is-not-telling-the-truth-about-coal

Are coal mining jobs up by 50,000 since last year? Not exactly

Just days after President Donald Trump announced that he would be pulling the United States out of the Paris international climate agreement, his Environmental Protection Agency administrator went on the Sunday shows to defend Trump’s decision.

During the June 4 interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Scott Pruitt whether it was disingenuous for the administration to promise a rebirth of coal....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jun/05/scott-pruitt/are-coal-mining-jobs-50000-last-year-not-exactly/

EPA chief exaggerates growth of coal jobs by tens of thousands

Coal mining jobs increased by only a few hundred during first three months of 2017....
https://thinkprogress.org/epa-chief-exaggerates-coal-job-growth-2ab69ed36b6