All posts tagged "Coal"

Trump is using his wartime power to boost a dirty corner of the fossil fuel industry, and online commentators are scoffing at the deal.

More than a dozen coal plants are expected to benefit from a $700 million plan with the help of the Defense Production Act, according to a post by CBS senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs.

“It is disgusting and reprehensible that the president of the United States is giving away our taxpayer dollars to deadly and expensive coal plants that will make Americans sicker and drive up electricity prices even more,” Patrick Drupp, climate policy director of the Sierra Club," told The Guardian. ...

The climate, energy and environment ministers of the leading Western industrialised nations (G7) have agreed on a coal phase-out by 2035 at their meeting in Italy, British and Italian officials said Monday. The decision was confirmed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs on Monday evening. A ministry spokesman said that Germany had played a key role in the decision to set a clear end date for coal-fired power generation for all G7 countries. British Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie had previously publicised the agreement. "Yes, we have an agreement to phase out coal in the first hal......

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Union Pacific train carrying 118 tons of coal derailed Sunday due to a track defect and dumped its contents into and around Plumas County’s Feather River, according to railroad officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fifteen rail cars chugging west on tracks parallel to the Middle Fork Feather River in Blairsden derailed, spilling the fuel into the river. At least 14 rail cars tipped over or sustained damage, Fish and Wildlife officials said. At least one rail car fell into the water. “Several cars lost the total payload and some cars partially rele......

ALMATY (Reuters) -The death toll from a fire at a coal mine in Kazakhstan owned by ArcelorMittal rose to 45 on Sunday, with emergency teams engaged in an operation to find one remaining miner believed to have been underground, emergency service officials were quoted as saying. On Saturday, operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said 206 of 252 people at the Kostenko mine had been evacuated after what appeared to be a methane blast. Gennady Silinsky, a senior emergency services official, on Sunday confirmed the death toll and continuing ope......

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, long described as the only billionaire in his state and the owner of a huge network of coal businesses, is facing multiple lawsuits over his companies' unpaid bills and fines — but his lawyers say his business empire is out of money and unable to pay the millions of dollars being sought, reported POLITICO on Thursday.

"A flurry of court filings in cases against Justice and his family indicates that his sprawling enterprises are short on cash, with his own lawyers calling them 'disorganized,'" reported Scott Waldman. "The court documents show that Justice is facing a series of extraordinary actions for a sitting governor — including the potential garnishment of part of his $150,000 state salary to repay loans for coal equipment, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported earlier this year. Another plaintiff has asked U.S. marshals to seize millions of dollars from his accounts."

"The latest legal challenge came Wednesday when the Justice Department sued Justice’s business enterprise and his son, James C. Justice III, over $7.6 million in unpaid penalties and fees for federal mine and safety violations as well as mine land reclamation costs," said the report. "'Our environmental laws serve to protect communities against adverse effects of industrial activities including surface coal mining operations,' Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said in a statement. 'Through this suit, the Justice Department seeks to deliver accountability for defendants’ repeated violations of the law and to recover the penalties they owe as a result of those violations.'"...

Denver (AFP) - Utah land rich in dinosaur fossils has regained protection stripped away by former President Donald Trump, easing fears that they would be ravaged by mining and other commercial activity. "Close to 10 percent of all dinosaurs known in the world are from Utah," said Jim Kirkland, a paleontologist who has explored Utah's Grand Staircase monument area for nearly 50 years. "It's pretty remarkable." Grand Staircase has a worldwide reputation for the quality and range of dinosaur fossils found. At the end of 2017, Trump's administration pulled back borders of three protected areas, tw......