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May 2016 2 www.coalage.com editor's note Putting Money to Work in Rural Communities C oal Age's editorial office routinely fields calls from differ- ent media outlets seeking knowledge about the industry. In some cases, it's honest fact checking. Sometimes it's some- thing a little more nefarious. From years of experience, the editors can usually detect a hatchet job. With these types of calls, the "journalists" have already written their story and they are just looking for some color. It's one of the reasons mining companies are reluctant to speak to the press. One way to avoid playing a contributing role in their charade is to ask whether or not you are on the record. That usually changes the tone of the conversation. If anyone approaches you claim- ing to work for Coal Age or Mining Media International, do not hesitate to call us, especially if you do not recognize the name. Last month, we received a number of calls from that blue corridor in the North- east. It seems that this season's opening episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Un- known, West Virginia, struck a chord. With the traveling I do for both Coal Age and Engineering & Mining Journal, I have always been a Bourdain fan and I watched the episode with some trepidation. My fear was that we would see a video montage of a New York Times or Bloomberg anti-coal expose with good food and comedy. How- ever, he captured the hardship McDowell County, West Virginia, now faces with the glory of a bygone era fading. Rural communities across America face these same hardships and the people living in the urban centers have lost touch with that. Beyond the coal mine, maybe the power plant or the steel mill or an automobile factory closed. The last election was a wake-up call for the urban centers. They have been misled by a media that has lost touch with reality, discounts the deplorables, and refuses to acknowledge what has happened and what is happening. A case in point would be the funding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced for 144 recipients, who will receive Brownfields Environmental Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup grants. Last month, the agency issued 221 grants totaling $54.3 million that will provide communities with funding to assess, clean up, and redevelop underutilized properties while pro- tecting public health and the environment. Carbon County, Utah, which includes the communities of Price and Helper, was one of the recipients (See Carbon County, p. 18). On April 25, I received more than 20 press releases providing details about the different grants and the impact they would have on rural communities. This is likely the first time you have read about this anywhere. What did the mainstream press report? Well, that would have been Google's $1 million donation to The Just Transition Fund. They are working to make sure coal- affected communities are not left behind and they said they will use the money to provide a guide for communities in transition. Dig a little deeper and you might see that their partners are the ones fighting against that factory, power plant and mill. Rural communities need a meaningful investment to create jobs, not lip service from let-them-eat-cake charities. www.coalage.com Coal Age, Volume 123, Issue 4, (ISSN 1040-7820) is published monthly ex- cept January, June and November, by Mining Media International, Inc., 11655 Central Parkway, Suite 306, Jacksonville, Florida 32224 (mining-media. com). Periodicals postage paid at Jacksonville, FL, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 41450540. Canada return address: PO Box 2600, Mississauga ON L4T 0A8, Email: subscrip- tions@coalage.com. 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Phone: +1.904.721.2925 Fax: +1.904.721.2930 Editorial Publisher & Editor-in-Chief—Steve Fiscor, sfiscor@mining-media.com Associate Editor—Jennifer Jensen, jjensen@mining-media.com Technical Writer—Jesse Morton, jmorton@mining-media.com Contributing Editor—Russ Carter, rcarter@mining-media.com Latin American Editor—Oscar Martinez, omartinez@mining-media.com Graphic Designer—Tad Seabrook, tseabrook@mining-media.com Sales Midwest/Eastern U.S. & Canada, Sales—Victor Matteucci, vmatteucci@mining-media.com Western U.S., Canada & Australia—Frank Strazzulla, fstrazzulla@mining-media.com Scandinavia, UK and European Sales—Colm Barry, colm.barry@telia.com Germany, Austria & Switzerland Sales—Gerd Strasmann, info@strasmann-media.de Japan Sales—Masao Ishiguro, ma.ishiguro@w9.dion.ne.jp Production Manager—Dan Fitts, dfitts@mining-media.com