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strip mining

Blackjewel’s Bankruptcy Filing Is a Harbinger of Trouble Ahead for the Plummeting Coal Industry

The company wants to walk away from almost 200 mining permits in four states, potentially leaving thousands of acres of environmentally damaged land.

By James Bruggers

Unemployed Blackjewel coal miner David Pratt holds his daughter Willow as he walks across railroad tracks that lead to one of the company's mines near Cumberland, Kentucky in 2019. Blackjewel miners found themselves unemployed when the company declared bankruptcy and the workers' final paychecks bounced, leading them to blockade the tracks to prevent the train carrying the mine's final shipment of coal from leaving until they were paid their wages. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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