Coal trains being loaded at the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin.
credit:
Michael Werner
A BNSF coal train pulls into the railyard in downtown Gillette, Wy.
credit:
Katie Campbell
This dragline excavator was built onsite in the Black Thunder Mine near and is used to remove earth and reveal the coal seam below.
credit:
Katie Campbell
Dump trucks at the Black Thunder Mine in Wyoming are large enough to carry houses. Each tire can cost up to $80,000.
credit:
Katie Campbell
Keith Williams of Arch Coal shows off an area that has been turned back into rangeland after it was mined for coal.
credit:
Katie Campbell
Horses near Gillette, Wy. don't even flinch at the sound of a passing coal train. Upwards of 70 coal trains leave this region every day.
credit:
Michael Werner
LJ Turner is a Wyoming cattle rancher. He has lost hundreds of square miles of range land to coal mining.
Keith Williams is the president of Powder River Basin opersations for Arch Coal. He's in charge of the Black Thunder Mine, one of the largest open surface mines in the world.
credit:
Michael Werner
State Representative Tom Lubnau of Gillette, Wy. supports plans to export coal through the Northwest. He says, "I have confidence in the coal companies to do the right thing. They’ve been very good corporate citizens."
credit:
Michael Werner
Trucks spray down the dirt roads of a coal mine near Gillette, Wy. to mitigate the clouds of dust that hang over open-surface mines.
credit:
Michael Werner
A loaded coal train leaves a Powder River Basin Mine just as an empty coal train arrives.