WORC and other groups are back in court protecting the land, air, and climate from the BLM’s disastrous coal leasing program. WORC and its member groups Powder River Basin Resource Council and Northern Plains Resource Council and other organizations were … Continued
WORC’s new report highlights how, as the coal industry collapses, mine reclamation jobs will be vital to the transition of coal communities. The collapse of the coal industry is devastating small communities across the Western United States. Reclaiming these mined … Continued
A new proposed rule aims to rewrite federal law and overturn decades of practice to allow state regulators to protect coal companies over coal communities or mine neighbors. If you live near a coal mine and you notice something wrong … Continued
New platform offers strategies that will create economic justice and resilience for coal-dependent communities as the coal industry declines. As the coal industry declines across the country and in our region, the Western Organization of Resource Councils is working to … Continued
As Congress shapes the latest round of COVID-19 response legislation, our government must invest funds in the future that America needs. We’ve worked with our members to build a recovery roadmap we’re calling, “A COVID-19 Response for a Resilient Rural America” … Continued
The National Mining Association is pushing for a bailout that will hurt the most vulnerable by cutting payments that compensate coal miners, coal communities, and coal-mining states for the impacts and damages of coal mining. -Coal industry proposal would create … Continued
The Trump Administration is “using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to let polluters off the hook”, allowing for unchecked pollution and putting vulnerable populations at even higher risk. On March 26th, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an … Continued
A new report published by WORC finds that more than a third of all land mined for coal in the Western United States awaits cleanup after a half-century of intensive strip-mining, but a weakening coal industry may be incapable of … Continued
A look back at our top ten 2019 blog features on coal, oil and gas, food and agriculture, and the West. Philosopher George Santayana famously said, “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” In 2019 we … Continued
Above: Coal plants like the one above dispose of thousands of tons of toxic coal ash in unlined pits that leak contaminants, polluting vital groundwater. WORC network fighting to stop utilities from abandoning their cleanup obligations. Coal ash, the waste … Continued