Long known as a workplace hazard, silica dust can cause irreversible lung scarring and cancer. The Department of Labor expects its new limit to save about 600 lives a year. But industry is balking.
The coal region of western Kentucky has managed to keep its mining industry alive through changing energy trends of the past few decades. That is, until now.
A couple is spending 365 days in the nation's most visited wilderness area to raise awareness of a sulfide-ore mining plan they say will put the watershed ecosystem in danger. Some locals disagree.
A vast archaeological site sits atop one of the world's biggest untapped copper deposits. Afghanistan must decide which resource will be a greater boon.
The spill on Wednesday sent heavy metals, arsenic and other contaminants into a waterway that flows into the San Juan National Forest. Estimates of the spill's size have risen sharply since then.