Coal Power Plants for 5th Graders (Sierra Club)

KEYSTONE XL: "Sioux tribe calls Keystone XL approval 'act of war.'" (CSM)

Beautiful: Lakota resistance to Keystone XL vote in the Senate Chamber.  Watch through the ad, then the vote, then smile.

Full story & video here: Sioux tribe calls Keystone XL approval 'act of war.' What does that mean? ( video)

With great background info on the KXL pipeline.

Fossil Fuels and Republican Triumphalism: Bad News for the Planet (Michael Klare)

NEWS ON RAMPANT CRIMINALITY IN COAL INDUSTRY, JUST KEEPS COMING: Frasure Creek and Dirty Water in Kentucky

UPPER BIG BRANCH AND DON BLANKENSHIP (I.E. COAL AND CRIMINALITY): THE ARC OF HISTORY, BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE, SORT OF

Ken Ward unpacks the indictments in his usual way (with deep insight):

5 more things about the Don Blankenship indictment

COAL, CRIMINALITY, AND INDUSTRIAL HOMICIDE: NPR STORY ON A DEEPLY COMPROMISED REGULATORY SYSTEM

We keep pointing out that the coal industry has baked-in malfeasance -- that is, an institutionalized culture and practice of avoiding and/or delaying an active response to mine-safety violations.

This is a great exposé of the worst violators.  Yet, NPR does not dig into how the companies who supposedly pay their fines also spend years jamming up the system with appeals of violations. These are the just the worst of a bad lot across the board.

  http://www.npr.org/2014/11/12/363058646/coal-mines-keep-operating-despite-injuries-violations-and-millions-in-fines

China emissions deal doesn't change much — yet — for coal industry : Business

China emissions deal doesn't change much — yet — for coal industry : Business

PEABODY and POWDER RIVER COAL (WYOMING): Or, since this where a lot of our coal comes from, why Missouri, St. Louis, and Ameren are complicit with turning public land into a national sacrifice zone

 

By Suzanne Goldberg  "In the fossil fuel jackpot that is Wyoming, it can be hard to see a future beyond coal. One of the few who can is LJ Turner, whose grandfather and father homesteaded on the high treeless plains nearly a century ago.

Turner, who raises sheep and cattle, said his business had 

suffered in the 30 years of the mines’ explosive growth. Dust from the mines was aggravating pneumonia among his Red Angus calves. One year, he lost 25 calves, he said.

“We are making a national sacrifice out of this region,” he said. “Peabody coal and other coal companies want to keep on mining, and mine this country out and leave it as a sacrifice and they want to do it for their bottom line. It’s not for the United States. They want to sell it overseas, and I want to see that stopped.”

As do some of the most powerful people on the planet. About 120 world leaders met at the United Nations (UN) in September to commit to fighting climate change – many noting that the evidence of warming was occurring in real time. Obama last year proposed new rules that will make it almost impossible to build new coal power plants.

Last week, an exhaustive UN report from the world’s top scientists warned of “severe, widespread and irreversible impacts” without dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions."

.... continues.... Read the entire article here (or click on graphic).