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Coverage of energy that moves beyond polarized arguments and emotional debate to explore the points of tension, the tradeoffs and opportunities, and the very human consequences of energy policy, production, use and innovation.Inside Energy is a collaboration of seven public media outlets in the nation's energy epicenter: Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota.

Coal Culture Runs Deep Through Wyoming

Leigh Paterson
/
Inside Energy
Meet the Coal Miner's Daughters, Gillette, Wyoming's roller derby team.

Girls in clunky roller skates whiz past their coach. They're sweaty, rowdy, and covered in tattoos. Gillette's roller derby team proudly represents coal country, as does their name.

"We’re called the Coal Miner’s Daughters, number one because Loretta Lynn rocks!" Katie Buffington, president of the team, explained. "Number two because coal is the main source of income in the area. And we really wanted to get back to our roots, where we come from."

Yes, there are actual coal miner's daughters on the team. Others, like Buffington are coal miners themselves.

"Coal is so deeply rooted in the community that you really can’t go anywhere without meeting a coal miners daughter, at roller derby or not," Buffington said.

"Forty percent of your nation's energy comes from coal, and we're talking about electricity. We have a huge pile of coal underneath our feet. Its easily obtainable, its not hard to get and its easy to make electricity out of."

Maybe that’s because one out of every hundred Wyoming residents works in the coal industry. The state produces a whopping 40 percent of the nation's coal. So, despite concern over climate change, competitive natural gas prices, and greater availability of renewables, Wyoming’s coal industry lives on.

In Gillette, a town of 30,000 in northeastern Wyoming, the hard black rock is everywhere you look: From the coal trains running right through town, to the "Friends of Coal" bumper stickers, to the watering holes where miners blow off steam.

Lakeside Liquor & Lounge, is a popular miner's bar, just off the main drag in Gillette. On this day, several men sat nursing drinks while the bartender made small talk. It was a normal scene except for the time: 8 a.m.

Asking for another whiskey and coke, Troy Goodsell explained he had just finished the night shift, driving a haul truck at a nearby mine. The son of two miners, Goodsell grew up in Gillette and has a deep appreciation for coal. So, I asked him to explain to my grandmother in New York why she, or anyone else, should care about coal.

"Hi Granny in New York," Goodsell said with a grin. "Forty percent of your nation's energy comes from coal, and we’re talking about electricity. We have a huge pile of coal underneath our feet. Its easily obtainable, its not hard to get and its easy to make electricity out of. So, what else would your granny ask hahaha?"

Between 2002 and 2012 coal production in Wyoming went up 8 percent. But it fell substantially in the second and third top producing states: 19 percent in West Virginia and 26 percent in Kentucky. In that same time period, overall U.S. production of coal decreased by 7 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

On a tour of Eagle Butte Mine, in Gillette, you can find out what makes Wyoming coal different.

The pit was massive: more than one mile long and laced with thick black coal seams. On this grand scale, the coal hauling trucks, sporting wheels 13 feet high, look like toys. Danelle Wilkerson, the tour guide at the mine, explained that most Wyoming mines are surface mines. You can see right in.

"Well, back east, a lot of the mines are underground mines so they take the people actually underground 500 feet or more. With this, they’re just removing the dirt. The 200 or 300 feet over overburden. So its all open," Wilkerson said.

Which means the coal is cheaper and easier to extract. Wyoming coal burns cleaner because of its low sulfur content. So even under the Environmental Protection Agency’s new plan to slash CO2 emissions by 2030, Wyoming would have to reduce its own emission rate by just 19 percent, which is less than most other states. That could be good news for Wyoming's cleaner burning coal.

But Tom Drean, of Wyoming's State Geological Survey, is cautious.

"It’s a bit of a mixed bag on the coal industry," said Drean. "Many states have been hit harder than Wyoming but Wyoming has been hit too. Prices have dropped. Some of the companies producing coal in Wyoming have been economically challenged."

The state’s largest coal company, Cloud Peak Energy reported large losses in their first quarter earnings for 2014, and smaller losses in the second quarter, published in late July. If nothing else, these figures are a symbol of an industry in distress.

Back at roller derby practice, even Katie Buffington, a die-hard coal miners daughter, acknowledged that Wyoming’s industry must innovate in order to stay strong.

"Something does need to change," said Buffington. "Because the way its going, some mines are doing better than others. And it is one of the main sources of income in this area. If the coal mines were to shut down, so would Wyoming."

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