Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are working to turn coal waste into a source of critical minerals, using microorganisms and artificial intelligence as part of a $6 million National Science Foundation project.

The Trump administration says the plants are vital for grid reliability. Utilities, states and ratepayers are challenging the orders and candidates are turning the costs into a campaign issue.

Pennsylvania remains a major player in the coal industry, ranking as the nation’s third-largest producer and supplying millions of tons locally and globally, even as its workforce and active sites contract.

The Tug Valley Mining Institute will hold a dinner meeting Thursday, October 15, 2026, at Logan Country Club in Chapmanville, West Virginia.

At the top of Grassy Mountain, some 6,700 feet above sea level, seams of coal are baked into the mountainside, visible through mining in this stretch of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta from the early to mid-1900s.

Over half of India’s monitored thermal power plants are operating with under five days of coal stock.