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CALHOUN, Ky. (AP) — Construction is underway on a new underground coal mine in western Kentucky that would employ about 280 miners. Paringa Resources says it is planning to begin mining coal at the McLean County site next year. The mine would sell coal that's used to generate electricity at power plants, a sector of coal that has been in steep decline in Kentucky and parts of Appalachia.....

Quick: What was the No. 1 source of electricity production in the U.S. during the first half of 2017? If you answered renewable energy, you were wrong by a mile. If you answered natural gas, you were wrong by a tiny amount. According to the Energy Information Administration, which tracks energy use in production on a monthly basis, the single largest source of electric power for the first half of 2017 was coal. That's an amazing finding, because liberals, especially environmental groups, keep telling us that coal is a dead industry. They ridiculed Donald Trump and called him a liar...

Coal has been the driving force behind the U.S. rail system for more than a century. The stories of locomotives chugging along as workers fed shovels full of coal into the burners may be a thing of the past, but that chunky byproduct has still been largely responsible for keeping the American rail system afloat. According to the American Association of Railroads, coal amounted to almost a third of gross tonnage carried by U.S. rail in 2016. It also amounted to more than 13 percent of rail revenue. And while that may not sound like a large percentage, 70 percent...

U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal. The previously unpublished figures provided to Reuters by the U.S. Energy Information...

U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal.

President Donald Trump has pledged his support to revitalize the coal mining industry and create more jobs through deregulation. Billionaire serial entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, argues that the U.S. government should take a different approach. “Coal mining is not the nicest of jobs, and coal mining disappeared in Britain many decades ago, and pretty much every single one of those coal miners went into jobs which were far more pleasant, far less dangerous, far better for their health, and I doubt that there’s one coal miner that looks back thinking, ‘God, I wish I...

Public Utilities Staff Executive Director Virden Jones said Thursday that he believes the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. wants to settle on terms set by Mississippi's Public Service Commission. The three elected commissioners said two weeks ago that Kemper should run on natural gas and not gasified lignite coal, that rates should stay level or fall, and that customers shouldn't pay for the gasifier. Last week, Mississippi Power said it was suspending efforts to complete the gasifier, which is three years behind schedule. The plant is more than $4.5 billion over budget. Southern could have to absorb another $3.4 billion...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The goal of Appalachian Power Company is to rely 50 percent on coal and 50 percent on renewable energy, according to the company’s president. “The intent is to get coal down to about 50 percent, stay there and then bring the other resources up,” Chris Beam said on last week’s MetroNews “Talkline.” As the company starts to work with new employers, the demand for new energy sources increases. “A lot of the things that we’re hearing from them is they have their own mandated requirements that they have to meet from their board of directors like you...

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry sparked disbelief on Twitter Thursday after he tried to offer an economics lesson while touring a coal plant in West Virginia. "Here's a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow," Perry said, responding to a question about a shale gas boom in comments captured by S&P Global Market Intelligence reporter Taylor Kuykendall.

The solar-energy industry has been touted for years as the environmentally safe alternative. After all, solar panels merely absorb the sun’s energy and transfer it to consumers. No oily pipelines, no obstructions to the nation’s waterways. But it appears all is not well for fans of the industry. Discarded solar panels, piling up around the world, are detrimental to the environment, according to a new study by Environmental Progress. And carcinogenic. And teratogenic. While environmentalist have warned for decades of the hazard of nuclear power, solar panels produce 300 times more toxic waste per unity of energy than nuclear power...

Coal company Murray Energy has sued HBO and its Sunday-night host, John Oliver, for what it says was a “false and malicious broadcast” last Sunday evening. It's seeking financial damages and a court order barring rebroadcasts of the segment's “defamatory statements.” Oliver's “Last Week Tonight” coal segment criticized the Trump administration's effort to revive the industry, saying coal jobs have dropped for decades and other energy alternatives are driving the industry's decline. He ribbed Murray Energy's CEO Robert Murray, who blames regulatory efforts by the Obama administration for damaging the coal industry. He said the 77-year-old looked like a “geriatric...

ACOSTA, PA. — On a warm June morning, a large crowd gathered in the lush, gentle folds of the Allegheny Mountains to hear President Donald Trump live on video. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be speaking with you on this great, great day,” he said. “The miners of Pennsylvania are mining coal again.” On a stage, five men unfurled a gold banner that blared, in large black letters: “Trump Digs Coal,” as the audience went wild. For the first time in nearly a decade, a new coal mine has opened here, and a US president has rallied alongside an industry deemed...

Worldwide coal production fell by a record amount in 2016, energy industry analysts reported on Tuesday. According to an annual report from BP, global coal production fell by 6.2 percent in 2016, the largest decline since BP began reporting the total in 1950. The decline was driven by shrinking coal production in the U.S., down 19 percent, and China, down 7.9 percent.

The resurrected feeling of American possibility came not from pontificating TV pundits or a radio host in a studio miles away. Optimism arrived here in Gillette, Wyo., because of what people were seeing: the unemployment lines getting shorter and their daily commutes getting longer. Tom Gorton, 41, drove through those increasingly congested streets in his Arnold Machinery truck late on a spring afternoon, under the watch of mountains covered in white from a spring snowstorm. As Gorton settled behind his desk, he was heartened to see how messy it was with orders, one year after hundreds of layoffs at two...

The resurrected feeling of American possibility came not from pontificating TV pundits or a radio host in a studio miles away. Optimism arrived here in Gillette, Wyo., because of what people were seeing: the unemployment lines getting shorter and their daily commutes getting longer. Tom Gorton, 41, drove through those increasingly congested streets in his Arnold Machinery truck late on a spring afternoon, under the watch of mountains covered in white from a spring snowstorm. As Gorton settled behind his desk, he was heartened to see how messy it was with orders, one year after hundreds of layoffs at two...

So it was clear to her how bad things had gotten two years ago, when young coal miners she'd sold brand new trucks to just a day or two earlier started bringing them back. At the time, it seemed like a new coal company was declaring bankruptcy every week and the laid-off miners weren't able to make the payments. But now, for the first time in roughly seven years, a brand new coal mine is opening in Somerset County - the Acosta deep mine, just three miles from Maurer's dealership. "We're hopeful - it means we're going to have things...

Production of coal at Bronco Coal Mine using a continuous miner is slated to begin within the next several weeks according to Dan Baker, CEO and President of Bronco Utah Mine. Crews at the new coal mine, in Emery County, have completed 80 percent of the construction phase.

PETTUS, W.Va. — Alpha Natural Resources announced Thursday it will open a new underground coal mine in Raleigh County this summer. Marfork Coal Company, an Alpha subsidiary, plans to begin mining coal as early as July at Panther Eagle Mine near Pettus, according to a news release from the company. There are 8.8 million tons of metallurgical reserves available for Panther Eagle. “Recent improvement in the market has created more demand for our coal and strategically increasing production will help meet that need,” said Alpha Vice President of Operations Charlie Bearse said.

The Trump administration took a step toward expansion of the West Elk Coal Mine in Somerset on Thursday as the U.S. Forest Service began accepting comments on a plan that was welcomed by the coal industry and scorched by environmental organizations. The Forest Service is seeking comment on whether it should approve a lease of some 17 million tons of coal beneath a roadless area of the Gunnison National Forest. The lease has been hotly contested with environmental organizations saying the lease would undermine the Sunset roadless area of the forest and contribute to climate change. Industry officials, however, said...

It is a well-documented fact that the U.S. Coal industry has been challenged by stringent environmental regulations for the last few years. Former President Obama's introduction of Clean Power Plan made things worse for the coal industry. With the policy's initiation, coal as a fuel source was pushed back further by increasing usage of natural gas and renewable energy sources to produce electricity. However, the condition of the coal industry has started to change for the better after the election of the new President...