Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s

Post by pibaker » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 5:35 AM UTC

NetMageSCW wrote: post #10

pibaker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the way people talk about American coal miners, you'd think there are millions of them and they all live in the Appalachia. When the truth is there are only 45,000 of them in the whole country. Walmart employs over 10,000 people in WV alone. And it's not just in Appalachia, either — Wyoming produces twice as much coal as PA and WV combined. Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a…

In West Virginia alone coal mining drive $21 billion in economic activity and provides for over 36,000 jobs total when you include related fields like power generation. It is an important in more ways than just mining jobs.

Post by gopher_space » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 10:59 PM UTC

pibaker wrote: post #7

Rebelgecko wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the US doesn't have senators whose constituents make solar a key part of their identity (or if we do, those senators arwnt swing votes who need to be appeased and disproportionately porked up)

From the way people talk about American coal miners, you'd think there are millions of them and they all live in the Appalachia. When the truth is there are only 45,000 of them in the whole country. Walmart employs over 10,000 people in WV alone. And it's not just in Appalachia, either — Wyoming produces twice as much coal as PA and WV combined. Crazy how much of this really just boils down to identity politics for a…