‘war on coal’

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Colstrip: At the intersection of coal and climate change

Drag

On a blustery December evening, Gene Wier and his grown son Bryan are wrenching on hand-built hot rods in their machine shop on the edge of Colstrip. There’s bright light, good grease smells, a football game on the TV. They tell me to come on in. When Gene ran for town council a few years back, he recalls, he was asked to sum up what makes this town of 2,300 residents unique. His answer cut to the basics: “We have a coal plant in our front yard, and a coal mine in our back yard.”

And like most people around here, he likes it that way. Continue Reading →

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Opinion: ‘War on coal’? How about ‘Give peace a chance’

Wade

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., came to Baker, where I live, to talk about, as he put it, a “war on coal.” His visit was part of an energy tour leading up to an Energy Expo in Billings, which he organized on behalf of the fossil fuel industries. As the days have passed, and I have thought about what was implicit in what he said, I find myself increasingly disturbed by how he and other politicians, like Ryan Zinke, Tim Fox, Greg Gianforte and Donald Trump are framing environmentalists. (more…) Continue Reading →

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