Sadly, Another Week of Coal Deaths and Destruction

On Friday morning around 6:30am EDT, at the Armstrong Coal Company's Equality Boot Mine in Centertown, Kentucky, two miners were killed when a wall collapsed. Coroner Larry Bevil says the men were likely killed immediately by the rock pile. Several other people were also injured from the incident.

The latest coal ash spill happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant. A large section of bluff collapsed next to the power plant, sending toxic coal ash and mud cascading into the lake as well as dumping buildings, fuels, equipment, and other debris into Lake Michigan.

Since the TVA disaster, the coal industry has been lobbying hard to block the EPA from establishing protections regulating coal ash. Just two weeks ago the industry successfully lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill stripping the EPA of the authority to protect Americans from coal ash.

These disasters are even more tragic reminders of why the energy status quo has got to go. Pollution and other accidents from fossil fuels continue to kill and communities remain at risk and unprotected. It's high time to develop a more diversified, less deadly, and sustainable energy portfolio.

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http://oakcreek.patch.com/articles/oak-creek-power-plant-s-neighbors-worry-about-effects-of-bluff-collapse

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/darrel-winstead-samuel-lindsey-kentucky-mine_n_1064221.html