Today another important book in the ongoing fight for the people of Appalachia hits bookstores. Reckoning at Eagle Creek, Jeff Bigger’s latest release takes us on a journey into the secret history of coal mining in the American heartland. Set in the ruins of his family’s strip-mined homestead in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Biggers delivers a deeply personal portrait of the largely overlooked human and environmental costs of our nation’s dirty energy policy over the past two centuries.

QUARRIER, W.Va.- Four protestors locked down to a coal truck entering a mine site in the vicinity of Quarrier and Decota at 7 a.m. this morning. Four other protestors joined them on the Kanawha County site, hanging two banners; one across the haul road and another on the back of the truck. The first banner read “Stop,” the second “Stop Mountaintop Removal.”

At 9 a.m., four protesters entered the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) in Charleston, WV and locked themselves to the office entrance. They are demanding that the agency hand over control of key programs to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) and that WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman resign. Around them, dozens of demonstrators reiterated those demands.

At least 100 demonstrators took part in protests at coal fired power plants in Brindisi, Marghera, Porto Tolle, Vado Ligure and Civitavecchia as part of worldwide actions targeting world leaders meeting at the G8 Summit in Italy.

G8 leaders must stop putting the interests of polluting industries such as coal ahead of the climate, Greenpeace said.

On April 30th, the 100th day of the new presidency, six grassroots delegates from communities disadvantaged by coal mining, processing, and burning will meet with Representatives of Congress, the EPA, and CEQ. The events are part of an inaugural effort to generate a unified voice for the transition away from coal from a diverse coalition of citizens, including those advocating for climate policy, environmental justice and indigenous rights.

Local activists with DC Rising Tide interrupted a coal industry conference today at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. They denounced coal-to-liquid technology as a corporate scam.

Coal to liquid and carbon capture technologies have been used as a life line for the coal industry. Those who oppose this technology recognize that it is a path which only worsens our reliance on destructive fossil fuels. 

The Coal-Olympics are part of