"We work the black seam together," - Sting,

#Trump administration opens more land for #CoalMining, offers $625M to boost #coal-fired power plants

By MATTHEW DALY
Updated 4:22 PM EDT, September 29, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Trump administration said Monday it will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants as President Donald Trump continues his efforts to reverse the years-long decline in the U.S. coal industry.

"Actions by the Energy and Interior departments and the Environmental Protection Agency follow executive orders Trump issued in April to revive coal, a reliable but #polluting energy source that’s long been shrinking amid environmental regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas.

"#Environmental groups denounced the actions, which come as the Trump administration has clamped down on renewable energy, including freezing permits for offshore wind projects, ending #CleanEnergy tax credits and blocking #wind and #solar projects on federal lands.

"Under Trump’s orders, the Energy Department has required fossil-fueled power plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep operating past their retirement dates to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The latest announcement would allow those efforts to expand as a precaution against possible electricity shortfalls."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-coal-mining-power-climate-burgum-electricity-eebec80c6060f37890de8dc18a1732ec

#DirtyCoal #RenewablesNow #FossilFuelsOut #TrumpIsAFossil #Oiligarchy #FossilFools #USPol #Corporatocracy #AreWeLivingInTheVictorianAgeAgain?

We Work The Black Seam

"This place has changed for good
Your economic theory said it would

It's hard for us to understand
We can't give up our jobs the way we should

Our blood has stained the #coal
We tunneled deep inside the nations soul

We matter more than pounds and pence
Your economic theory makes no sense

One day in a #nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is #Carbon14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together

The seam lies underground
Three million years of pressure packed it down

We walk through ancient forest lands
And light a thousand cities with our hands

Your dark satanic mills
Have made redundant all our mining skills

You can't exchange a six-inch band
For all the poisoned streams in cumberland

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is carbon 14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together

And should the children weep
The turning world will sing their souls to sleep

When you have sunk without a trace
The universe will suck me into place

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is carbon 14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together"

- #Sting, 1985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egynEo4cIEM

#80sMusic #NoNukes #NoCoal #RethinkNotRestart #DirtyCoal #NuclearWaste #RenewablesNow! #NoNukesForAI #NoCoalForAI

“... maintenance costs continue to rise and planned and unplanned outages increase at Bayswater…that contributes to rising power bills."

#energy #DirtyCoal

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-13/bayswater-coal-fired-power-station-at-40-years/105403800

Dine' tell Navajo Council 'NO COAL!'

The Monster has returned, and it is even more grotesque than the one before. Dine' remember forced relocation, the loss of water and medicine plants, and the loss of loved ones. Navajos say 'No!; to Trump and Navajo President Nygren's push for coal.

By #BrendaNorrell, @bsnorrell.blogspot.com June 1, 2025

#ForestLake, #NavajoNation -- "Dine' told the #NavajoNationCouncil that the #CoalIndustry has cost them their aquifer water, and their health. Combined with #UraniumMining, they have lost their loved ones to widespread #cancer and #BlackLungDisease killing their people.

"Dine' remembered #ForcedRelocation and the stripping of the #forest by #PeabodyCoal, during a hearing on Friday. The Navajo Council was told to stand up for #FutureGenerations, or step aside.

" 'The Navajo Nation has provided coal to the big cities for decades, while the people of #BlackMesa have nothing to show for it," Dine' from Black Mesa told the Council.

" 'We are supposed to be the Protectors of the Earth.'

"#LouiseBenally [#KleeBenally's aunt] of Big Mountain told the hearing that you can't trust what #Trump is telling you because he'll change whatever he says in the next sentence. Louise said he has no concept of what being a human is.

" 'Keep your prayers and your language, those are the things that really matter for us #IndigenousPeople,' said Louise. She and her family spent their lives resisting forced relocation brought by Peabody Coal's mining on Black Mesa.

" 'Everyone was opposed to another #CoalMining, it's not good for anything, and it is causing #GreenhouseGases to continue to rise,' Louise told Censored News.

" 'Doctor Nygren doesn't know that. He needs a hogan level of education.'

" '#ClimateChange is so, important to every living thing, we need to be finding solutions not making things worse.' "

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/05/live-navajo-hearing-on-revitalizing.html

#EO14241 #Diné #Dineh #Dineteh #NavajoNation #WaterIsLife #DirtyCoal #TrumpSucks #AirIsLife #NoCoalMining
#BigCoal #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #CorporateColonialism #RememberKleeBenally
#BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople

#CoalMining Devastated the #Water and Brought #BlackLungDisease -- #ForestLake Hearing on #Coal

by #TóNizhóníÁní, #CensoredNews
via @bsnorrell.blogspot.com
June 6, 2025

"On Friday, May 30, 2025, the Office of the Speaker held a public hearing on coal at the Forest Lake Chapter House in Forest Lake (Tsiiyi’ Be’ak’id), Arizona. This open forum allowed participants to share their input and comments regarding the Federal Executive Order 14241, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” aimed at amending federal policies to boost the #CoalIndustry. This public hearing came after community opposition and frustration to Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren ’s support of President #Trump’s executive orders to prop up coal. The public hearing generated over 50 public comments, more than 169 people in attendance.

"Tó Nizhóní Ání executive director #NicoleHorseherder was one of the first to provide comments in opposition of coal siting the decades-long impacts on the land and water. “The bottom line is coal mining has had adverse impacts to the aquifers and that’s Navajo water. What is Navajo going to do about it?' said Nicole as she provided a brief overview of the coal mining and reclamation issues at the #KayentaMine.

"The federal agencies responsible for overseeing reclamation and cleanup acknowledged, verbally, that their duties are to the shallow #aquifers impacted by coal but mentioned the deep aquifers are the responsibility of the Department of Interior. These are just one of many issues impacting the #BlackMesa region, which played host to the coal industry for over 50 years."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/06/to-nizhoni-ani-coal-mining-devastated.html

#EO14241 #Diné #Dineh #Dineteh #NavajoNation #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoCoalMining #BigCoal #USPol #NativeAmericanNews #BigCoal #CorporateColonialism #DirtyCoal #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople

Oh. Too expensive, eh? Maybe all that money we're saving from #DOGE could go towards installing scrubbers or replacing them! (JK! #DOGESucks! #TaxTheRich!)

More Than 60 Power Plants Exempted From Federal #MercuryLimits

More stringent rules were scheduled to be enforced in 2027. Selected plants will now have two more years to comply.

By Dan Gearino
April 16, 2025

"Included in the #Trump administration’s order last week to boost the #coal industry was a two-year exemption to a rule that would have forced some of the nation’s most polluting power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other air toxics.

"The ramifications of this exemption are beginning to sink in for people across the country who saw the mercury rule, updated and enhanced last year by the Biden administration, as a crucial part of reducing the harm of these power plants.

"The Environmental Protection Agency [#EPA] published a list of 47 plant owners and more than 60 plants that now have additional time to meet mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) that were set to become more stringent in 2027.

"The actions are part of a broader agenda in which the Trump administration aims to use executive orders to cut environmental regulations and increase electricity generation, mainly from #FossilFuels.

" 'The Trump administration has created an illegal special exemption by which polluters can go to the president and request a ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to the Clean Air Act,' said Howard Learner, CEO and executive director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a Chicago-based advocacy group that works throughout the Midwest. 'That’s legally irresponsible; it’s bad policy, and it will really harm people as a result of more pollution.'

"The exempted plants are in 23 states and include some of the country’s leading #polluters, such as the #JamesHMillerPlant in #Alabama, owned by Southern Co., and the #LabadiePlant in #Missouri, owned by #AmerenCorp.

"Many of the plants are old, such as the #TennesseeValleyAuthority’s #ShawneePlant in #Kentucky, whose oldest generating unit began operating in 1953.

"A few are relatively new, such as the #DryForkStation in #Wyoming, which opened in 2011 and is owned by #BasinElectric Power Cooperative.

"The list consists mostly of #CoalPlants, but also includes a few properties that burn #gas or #petroleum."

Read more:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16042025/power-plants-exempted-from-federal-mercury-limits/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/uocBf

#BadDOGE #AirIsLife #MercuryPoisoning
#ToxicAir #WaterIsLife #DirtyCoal #CoalMining #USPol #Pollution

#Arizona’s #ApacheGeneratingStation is one of 66 #CoalPlants to get #EPA exemption from Biden-era #toxic #AirPollution caps

Sammy Travis / Cronkite News
April 21, 2025

"WASHINGTON — The Apache Generating Station, one of the last remaining power plants in Arizona that use coal, is among 66 power plants nationwide granted exemptions by the Trump administration from updated standards on mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxic pollutants.

Environmentalists worry that allowing plants to avoid compliance with the new standards could harm air quality, public health and the environment.

Power companies have been phasing out coal plants in Arizona for years. The last is targeted for closure in 2032, when federal rules kick in that require 90% capture of carbon emissions.

But Arizona’s intense summer heat puts a strain on the supply of electricity, and power companies have long turned to older, dirtier technology when demand peaks.

At issue are Environmental Protection Agency standards known as the MATS rule, part of the Clean Air Act, which President Richard Nixon signed in 1970. Congress updated it in 1977 and 1990.

The Apache Generating Station’s waiver allows its owner and operator, Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, to comply with the 2012 version of the federal standards rather than stricter caps issued by the EPA in April 2024.

The MATS rule was originally aimed at coal-burning plants. The EPA has expanded it to apply to natural gas; Apache, a 408-megawatt plant about 80 miles east of Tucson, uses both.

Natural gas generates far less toxic material and particulate matter than coal. But it does create carbon dioxide, and the Biden administration also issued rules aimed at curbing those greenhouse emissions.

[Next section talks about how UPGRADES ARE EXPENSIVE! THEN HAVE BILLIONAIRES PAY FOR THEM! OR REPLACEMENT ENERGY SOURCES!]

"President Donald Trump signed an order shortly after taking office that rolled back Biden-era EPA regulations. In April, he signed multiple executive orders promoting coal.

"His cost-cutting effort, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has also aggressively curtailed the EPA’s staff and mission."

Read more:
https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2025/04/21/arizona-coal-plant-epa-exemption-new-toxic-air-pollution-cap/

#BadDOGE #AirIsLife #MercuryPoisoning #ToxicAir #WaterIsLife #DirtyCoal #CoalMining #USPol

#MeansMorningNews January 24, 2025: #RichDick #SamAltman should be thrown in a #Stargate
#uspol #socialism #capitalism #AI #GenerativeAI #OpenAI #ClimateChange #energy #healthcare #privacy #panopticon #datacenters #fossilfuels #coal #dirtycoal #potus #abuse
https://means.tv/programs/mmn?cid=4053624&permalink=mmn-daily_012425

Big European insurers ‘underwrite 30% of US coal despite net zero pledges’ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/big-european-insurers-us-coal-lloyds-of-london-zurich-swiss-re #Europe #DirtyCoal #Coal #NetZero #LloydsOfLondon #Swiss #Zurich #Shame #ClimateChangeCriminals

As the toxic legacy of opencast mining in Wales shows, operators get the profits, and the public get the costs - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/01/fossil-fuel-toxic-legacy-coal-wales-mining appalling - and appalling that politicians keep falling for these tricks... #dirtycoal

Next: there’s an insipid Carbon Capture & Storage ad that keeps popping up. I’m guessing most of the viewers of the High School Hockey Tournament aren’t into the nuances of greenwashing, so maybe they feel good that they can continue life as usual, and #ccs will save the planet. But there’s some big problems. #cdr has never worked at scale, and it won’t. Best non-academic take-down I’ve seen is this vid: https://youtu.be/BwP2mSZpe0Q

#greenwashing #CarbonCapture #CarbonCaptureScam #carbonDioxideRemoval #DirtyCoal

#Australia chooses the Great Barrier Reef over a coal mine
https://boingboing.net/2023/02/08/australia-chooses-the-great-barrier-reef-over-a-coal-mine.html

#GreatBarrierReef #ClimateChange #OceanAcidification #DirtyCoal

Most new wind and solar projects will be cheaper than coal, report finds - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/23/most-new-wind-solar-projects-cheaper-than-coal-report #dirtycoal is dead, dead, dead

"Blackjewel is the third large US coal company to declare bankruptcy since May 2019, despite promises from Donald Trump that he would save the coal industry and its jobs." - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/22/blackjewel-mines-shut-down-layoffs-future shut them all now #dirtycoal

Belt and Road summit puts spotlight on Chinese coal funding - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/25/belt-and-road-summit-puts-spotlight-on-chinese-coal-funding green #obor just propaganda; the truth is #dirtycoal