Coal Play

Coal communities in eastern Kentucky have been reeling from the effects of a relentless wave of mining layoffs.

England still depends on coal for 40 percent of electricity

Thirty years ago, the Thatcher government closed most coal mines.

Brampton lost its coal mine 30 years ago, despite a year-long miner's strike. What's there now?

In eastern Kentucky, coal mines are closing, putting thousands out of work.

The main problem is that Kentucky coal is played out and expensive to mine.

Coal may be synonymous with pollution but as coal historian Barbara Freese found, that wasn’t always the case.

The Gateway Pacific Terminal would be the largest coal-exporting terminal in North America. But Goldman Sachs doesn't want to back it anymore.

U.S. coal producers hope to export coal from the Pacific Northwest to China. The world’s second biggest economy burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. That’s generated record levels of air pollution in China, and polluted waterways, too.

U.S. coal companies have hit hard times. Domestic demand is drying up, and global prices for coal are hitting record lows. What to do? The industry is looking across the Pacific to China for help, and is planning to build coal terminals in Washington to export coal from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the world’s second-biggest economy. But is China interested in American coal?