Has anyone seen a missing mountain?
This past weekend, my wife and I attended her family reunion in Wyoming County. We decided to drive down through Boone County rather than going by interstate since we weren’t in a terrible rush. It had been a few months since we had been through Boone County and I must say, things have changed…and not [...]
Why is coal a non-renewable resource?
This website has been receiving a large amount of visitors through search engines with the title to this post as the search phrase. Being as that is the case I thought it appropriate to answer the question. Non-renewable definition – 1. That cannot be renewed: a nonrenewable license. 2. Of or relating to an energy [...]
Clean, Carbon Neutral Coal?
I couldn’t have read it right. Let’s turn around and read the billboard again. Sure enough, Walker Machinery is promoting clean, carbon neutral coal. I have a couple of questions. Has the chemistry of coal changed recently? Is there a new type of coal that nobody has ever seen before? Carbon neutral coal would be [...]
UMWA back to its roots?
An article in Sunday’s Charleston Gazette headlined, “UMW taking up mountaintop fight? Union won’t oppose a ban, official says.” I read this article with particular interest and enthusiasm. When I was writing my dissertation/book about MTR, I devoted a chapter to the UMWA and its part in the coalfields. I noted the historical role that the [...]



