The winner of this year's West Virginia Coal Festival teen beauty pageant walks among the ruins of a community abandoned 70 ...

Coal, the fossil fuel that is still abundantly available in Southwest Virginia, has been a topic of discussion in recent days for local economic development officials. The week began with the Virginia ...

Nixon. In 1969 he signed into law the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act after public outcry over a mine explosion the previous year in Farmington, West Virginia, that killed 78 workers.

Voices From Coal Country Say Closures of MSHA Offices Will Endanger Mine Safety CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Retired coal miner Stanley “Goose” Stewart questions whether it's safe for anyone to ...

West Virginia employed the most miners at 14,000, followed by Kentucky at 5,000. About half of the nation’s 560 coal mines are located in West Virginia (165) and Kentucky (112). Despite having ...

Coal mining in West Virginia, meanwhile, spent the ensuing years in a political fight that Republicans largely won. As a 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton was slammed for saying that ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Trump vowed to save the industry, and while mining jobs have not made a comeback, coal states like West Virginia have become reliable Republican strongholds.Advocates for the mining industry argue ...