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CHAPTER TWO The Political History of Coal The political posture of the coal industry has been shaped by past battles over the harmful consequences of mining and using coal. These include battles with miners over pay and working conditions, battles over the destruction of the landscape by coal mining, and battles over the toxic substances emitted when coal is burned. A brief look at these three areas will help us understand the current battle over coal’s impact on the global climate. Coal and Labor From the struggles of the fictional miners in Zola’s Germinal1 to the defeat of Arthur Scargill’s strike against Thatcherism, by way of John L. Lewis’s role in founding the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), coal miners have often been in the vanguard of organized labor. While their prominence can sometimes be attributed to the strategic choices made by miners’ leaders, it also reflects the centrality of coal to industri- alization. For close to a century, coal was essential for powering steam- ships and railroads, and for the making of steel.2 The importance of coal as a resource gave the miners added leverage, while simultaneously giving mine owners increased incentive to seek to hold wages down. Coal Miners in the 19th Century Prior to the Civil War, most coal operations were small, with only a few workers mining coal that was close to the surface. Miners were treated as subcontractors, working at their own pace and being paid by the ton of coal produced. During the war the needs of both sides for fuel caused the