On Monday, October 6th, All In America: Coal Country jumps into the politics of coal. In Kentucky, coal is a central campaign issue in the senate race between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kentucky’s Secretary of State, Alison Lundergan Grimes. Here are some useful links to help orient you on the politics of coal:
“Bipartisan Bill would Help Out-Of-Work Coal Miners Find New Jobs,” Think Progress
- ” The bill, called the Healthy Employee Loss Prevention Act (HELP Act), would create a “worker adjustment assistance program” that would help former coal miners with finding jobs or retraining programs.
“As families flee coal country, schools struggle,” The Times Tribune
- “When it opened in 1990 amid boom times deep in eastern Kentucky coal country, Shelby Valley High School had nearly 1,000 students, with enough demand that it built an addition the next year. Now the mines are closing, and the school big enough for 1,200 students sits at half capacity.”
“100 years of coal mining in Harlan County,” Kentucky.com
- “The coal industry has dominated the local economy for a century, providing jobs in a place where they are scarce. There was a price, however, including the deaths of hundreds of miners who were blown up, crushed or suffocated. Others died more slowly from the coal dust in their lungs.”
“McConnell dodges on climate change,” The Hill
- “I’m not interested in handicapping Kentucky’s economy in pursuit of a crusade no one else is following,” said McConnell, who is running for reelection against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. Both candidates have railed against Environmental Protection Agency policies they say would hurt the coal industry.
MS NOW staff