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Coal

Trump order seeks to tap coal power in quest to dominate AI – by Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg News – April 8, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

President Donald Trump is moving to expand the mining and use of coal inside the US, a bid to power the boom in energy-hungry data centers while seeking to revive a declining US fossil fuel industry. In an executive order Trump is set to sign Tuesday afternoon, the president will direct a number of steps by the federal government meant to reinvigorate coal said a senior White House official.

The actions including emphasizing the US is back in the business of selling coal mining rights on federal land and ordering the rock be designated as a critical mineral. Other steps include accelerating the export of US coal and related technologies.

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Pincher Creek council weighs potential plebiscite on Grassy Mountain coal mine – by Somya Lohia (Hamilton Spectator – April 2, 2025)

https://www.thespec.com/

The Town of Pincher Creek is looking into whether a plebiscite could be held during the October municipal election to gauge public sentiment on the proposed Grassy Mountain coal mining project. The idea was introduced by deputy mayor Wayne Oliver during the March 24 council meeting.

Oliver put forward a notice of motion requesting that administration investigate the feasibility of holding an informational plebiscite, similar to the one Crowsnest Pass held last year. However, he suggested holding it in conjunction with the upcoming municipal election.

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What Made the Battle of Blair Mountain the Largest Labor Uprising in American History – by Abby Lee Hood (Smithsonian Magazine – August 25, 2021)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Its legacy lives on today in the struggles faced by modern miners seeking workers’ rights

Police chief Sid Hatfield was a friend to the miners of Matewan, West Virginia. Rather than arresting them when they got drunk and rowdy, he’d walk them home. For his allegiance to the unionized miners of southwestern West Virginia, rather than the say, the nearby coal companies who employed them, Hatfield was gunned down on August 1, 1921, on the steps of the Welch, West Virginia, courthouse, alongside his friend Ed Chambers as their wives looked on in horror.

Their murder catalyzed a movement, the largest labor uprising in history, that remains resonant to this day. The Battle of Blair Mountain saw 10,000 West Virginia coal miners march in protest of perilous work conditions, squalid housing and low wages, among other grievances. They set out from the small hamlet of Marmet, with the goal of advancing upon Mingo County, a few days’ travels away to meet the coal companies on their own turf and demand redress.

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Coal mining reversal a double betrayal, says Mountain View County resident – by Simon Ducatel (The Albertan – March 16, 2025)

https://www.thealbertan.com/

Paltry royalty revenue not worth risk to environment and health, Robert Bueck

MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – The provincial government’s plans to allow coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in any shape or form after previously back peddling and pledging not to due to public backlash just a few years ago is a double betrayal, says a Sundre-area resident.

“I think they have betrayed Albertans,” said Robert Bueck, who lives in the McDougal Flats area. “They betrayed them the first time when they rescinded the coal mining policy in May of 2020, and I think the second time now after they had said that they were not going to go ahead and do it.”

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US considers emergency powers to restart closed coal plants – by Ari Natter (Bloomberg News – March 10, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The US is eyeing emergency authority to bring back coal-fired plants that have closed and stop others from shutting, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.

“Under the national energy emergency, which President Trump has declared, we’ve got to keep every coal plant open,” Burgum told Bloomberg Television in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston. “And if there had been units at a coal plant that have been shut down, we need to bring those back.”

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U.S. states rely on B.C. to export thermal coal. Should the shipments be taxed? – by Yasmine Ghania (CBC News British Columbia – March 12, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Proposal also brings fear of retaliation after U.S. president lashed out at Ontario

As President Donald Trump’s tariff threats continue to hang over Canada, B.C. Premier David Eby wants the federal government to impose a tax on U.S. thermal coal shipped out of the province as a way to pressure the White House.

But after the president lashed out at Canada for Ontario’s levies, there are also fears that any more retaliation from provinces could backfire.

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Uncovering the history of Nova Scotia’s Black miners – by Francesca Fionda (The Narwhal – February 25, 2025)

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A researcher in Canada’s Atlantic region uncovers ‘striking’ similarities between the historic treatment of Black miners and modern-day attitudes toward immigrant labourers

Maurice Ruddick waited for nearly nine days near the bottom of a 4,300-metre-deep coal mine before he was rescued. An underground earthquake brought down ceilings and pillars and shifted debris into tunnels, trapping Ruddick and several other miners. Stuck in the darkness, with limited food and water Ruddick lifted his fellow miners’ spirits by leading them in prayers and song.

In 1958, Nova Scotia’s Springhill mine disaster killed 75 men and trapped dozens in the tunnels. The world kept vigil for survivors as they were slowly rescued. Ruddick, a descendant of enslaved Black people, was among the last miners to be brought back to the surface. A media circus followed and the survivors’ stories were broadcast around the world.

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Saskatchewan looks to run conventional coal for power well beyond Ottawa’s 2030 phaseout deadline – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – February 12, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Saskatchewan is looking to refurbish its fleet of coal-fired power stations, extending their lives well past a federal 2030 phase-out deadline and locking the province into decades of reliance on the fossil fuel.

Jeremy Harrison, the minister responsible for SaskPower, the Crown corporation that oversees electricity supply in the province, says the reliability and affordability of power are at the heart of the policy rethink.

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US Should Stop Closure of Coal-Fired Power Plants, Wright Says – by Ari Natter (Bloomberg News – February 11, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The US should stop the closure of coal-fired power plants, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, adding the fuel source would be essential to the nation’s power system for decades to come.

“We are on a path to continually shrink the electricity we generate from coal,” Wright said Tuesday on Bloomberg Television. “That has made electricity more expensive and our grid less stable.” Wright’s remarks come as demand for electricity is surging to feed power-thirsty data centers needed for artificial intelligence, new factories and the overall electrification of the economy.

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Coal Mine Disaster in India’s Assam Opens Can of Worms – by Rajeev Bhattacharyya (The Diplomat – February 07, 2025)

https://thediplomat.com/

Rat-hole mining is banned by the Supreme Court. But its practice persists under the noses of government officials and politicians.

A tragedy in a coal mine in the northeastern Indian state of Assam has turned the spotlight once again on the illegal practice of rat-hole mining, which thrives in the region despite a ban by the Supreme Court.

Four dead bodies of miners were retrieved last month from a flooded coal mine at Umrangso in Assam’s Dima Hasao district after water from a nearby unused mine suddenly flooded the site. Employees of the quarry were quoted as saying that there were around 15 workers trapped inside the mine, but the government did not confirm the number.

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Municipal district scraps Grassy Mountain appeal after provincial coal rule changes – by Joel Dryden (CBC News Calgary – February 05, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

Alberta government lifted ban on coal exploration in Eastern Slopes in late January

The reeve of a southwestern ranching community says the municipal district has cancelled its appeal of exploration applications tied to the Grassy Mountain site in southwestern Alberta. Ron Davis, reeve of the M.D. of Ranchland, said recent rule changes from the provincial government have upended the district’s arguments tied to its Alberta Court of Appeal case.

“Given that the government has changed the rules, our case didn’t seem like it had as much impact as we would like,” Davis said. In August 2024, Alberta’s top court allowed Ranchland’s appeal, with Justice Kevin Feth writing he found that “a serious, arguable issue [was] established” after the provincial energy regulator accepted applications from Northback Holdings, the company behind the Grassy Mountain mine project.

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Donkin coal mine will likely restart production when world prices rise, says U.S. analyst – by Tom Ayers (CBC News Nova Scotia – January 31, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

Industry observer says mine owners have invested hundreds of millions and will want to make that back

A U.S.-based analyst says he believes the undersea coal mine in Donkin, N.S., will reopen someday. Joe Aldina, who writes for thecoaltrader.com, said the Cline Group, whose company Kameron Coal owns the Donkin mine, has made significant investments there that it will likely want to recover.

“They’ve invested a few hundred million dollars US in [capital expenditures] in that mine and that was the last project that Chris Cline, the founder of the company, really put himself into, so I don’t see them walking away from that,” he said.

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‘The Region Will Die’: Ukraine’s Donbas Mines Within Russia’s Grasp (Kyiv Post – January 30, 2025)

https://www.kyivpost.com/

Russia’s army is around six kilometres (four miles) from the centre of Pokrovsk, a formerly thriving mining hub on top of Ukraine’s largest coal reserves.

Fighting desperately to cling on to coal mines that were once the lifeblood of its industrial east, Ukraine’s soldiers conceded they were struggling against intensifying Russian attacks. “There’s only so much we can do. No matter what super warriors are fighting in our ranks, the Russians outnumber us. It hurts,” said the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 59th brigade, deployed in the Donetsk region, who goes by the call sign “San Sanych”.

Russia’s army is around six kilometres (four miles) from the centre of Pokrovsk, a formerly thriving mining hub on top of Ukraine’s largest coal reserves. The capture of the city and surrounding mines — some of which are even closer to Russian positions — would be a painful blow to Ukraine’s army, local communities and the national economy, compounding months of setbacks on the front.

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Water for Food voices concerns over coal mining’s impact on ag sector – by Alexandra Noad (Lethbridge Herald – January 30, 2025)

https://lethbridgeherald.com/

Southern Alberta is known for its vast farmland, which contributes billions of dollars to the economy and Chris Spearman fears the proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Mine will negatively impact the agri-food sector and southern Alberta.

Spearman, former Lethbridge mayor and a spokesman for the group Water For Food, says he was alarmed at the Dec. 20 announcement and is wondering why the Albertan government would jeopardize the economy for a project that has a limited life span.

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‘It’s a catastrophe’: Southern Alberta’s ag industry concerned over potential coal mining pollution – by Karsen Marczuk (CTV News Calgary – January 23, 2025)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/

Pushback continues to mount over possible coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, with the latest being a letter penned to the provincial government over the impact coal mining could have on the agriculture industry.

“We are very concerned with the impact on integrated agriculture in southwestern Alberta,” said Chris Spearman with the Water for Food Group. “We don’t understand — our question to the Alberta government is basically – ‘are they prepared to sacrifice a multi-billion-dollar food industry for a coal mine?’”

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