Coal Mining

The tribe is asking the Trump administration to dramatically expand the life — and size — of an operational coal mine that could uproot the lives of some Navajo families. And their longtime homes.

The federal agency's action — published Tuesday — contends that its decision is intended to "encourage energy production" in the midst of Trump's self-declared national energy emergency.

Coal is perhaps most closely associated with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — or Wyoming, the nation's leading producer of the fossil fuel. But the coal-mining business was once thriving in northern Arizona as well, atop the Colorado Plateau.

Wyoming and Utah’s governors said we no longer have to choose between protecting the environment and burning fossil fuels. Energy researchers disagree.

The president signed four executive orders to reverse the trend away from coal-fired electricity in the U.S., but there's little economic incentive for utilities to bring it back when natural gas is so much cheaper.

As northwest Colorado loses coal jobs and dollars, a small group is raising the possibility of nuclear waste storage as a replacement. Community leaders in Coal Country have mixed feelings about the idea.

Residents of a tiny, unincorporated, coal town on Colorado’s Western Slope are pitted against billionaire mine owner Bill Koch in a fight for clean…