Further decline in the coal industry gives rise to a new phenomenon: Zombie mines

A Scripps News investigation found as many as 1,300 of these coal mining facilities across Appalachia shuttered for at least a decade without operators finishing cleanup.

I was the lead writer, producer and supervisory reporter on this investigation.

Oct. 25, 2024

By: Stephanie Sandoval , Carrie Cochran , Amy Fan

For some who live in Claiborne County, Tennessee, talking about coal is like talking about politics or religion. You just don’t do it. Generations made a decent living from it. America was built using it. But whether it’s coming back — and most of all, whether it should — is a matter of opinion.

There’s a belief that’s less controversial around here, though: If you make a mess, clean it up.

That was taught to 70-year-old Claiborne County resident Sharon Petro as a young girl who trudged through the streams and climbed the ridges here. Petro says coal companies could use the lesson.

“Coal was a good resource,” she said. “But don't come and get the coal, leave, and leave a mess — clean it up, because there's still people who live here that have to live with that mess.”

READ THE REST OF THE STORY (AND WATCH THE VIDEO) HERE.