The death of US coal: industry on a steep decline as cheap natural gas rises
by Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington from Environment | The Guardian on (#19SQY)
With Massey Energy boss Don Blankenship headed to prison and some of the industry's biggest companies bankrupt, a historic transformation may be ahead
On a wintry night in 2010 a few months before 29 men were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, the coal boss, Don Blankenship - then one of the richest and most powerful men in West Virginia - squared up to Robert Kennedy Jr in a public debate about destructive mining practices and climate change.
The contest had been an epic smackdown and about 1,000 people turned out to see the scion of the liberal Kennedy clan take on the native son and champion of coal.
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