Salt River Project and its customers have started receiving electricity from Springerville Unit 4, the state's newest coal-fired power plant.

WHEATLAND, Wyo. - In the time it takes to microwave a frozen dinner, another 120 tons of coal is dumped from a railroad car at the Laramie River Station. It’s a scene that can occur 200 times a day.

PITTSBURGH - While much of the country struggles with a difficult job market, coal companies are in a heated competition for workers. They’re raiding each other’s employees, renting billboards and even paying for bannertowing planes at beach resorts with generous offers of pay and benefits.

Where to start in the Valley's dismal sports world these days ...

XIANGNING, China — Rescuers pulled 115 miners to safety Monday, their eighth day trapped in the northern China mine. Emergency teams were trying to reach 38 others still in the Wangjialing mine as of Monday night.

FLAGSTAFF — The Sierra Club is praising a judge's ruling against Peabody Western Coal Company and its attempt to operate two mines near Kayenta under one permit.

FLAGSTAFF - A coalition of tribal groups and conservationists have appealed the federal government's decision to renew a permit that combines the facilities and coal reserves of two northeastern Arizona coal mines.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A man who called 911 after his friend survived a 500-foot fall at a strip mine was charged Monday with pushing him over the edge. While Nathan Bowman recovered from broken bones and other injuries in a hospital, Richard D. George was sent to Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.

A Gilbert-based company developing alternative energy technologies said Monday it has demonstrated a coal-to-hydrogen process on a laboratory scale, setting the stage for a larger pilotplant development.

Salt River Project wants to restart a controversial coal-fired power plant near Laughlin, Nev., that was shut down in December because of environmental problems.

With crude oil prices hitting $70 a barrel Monday, a Gilbert-based alternative energy company said it will bet $5 million on a new technology that may efficiently convert coal into cleanburning synthetic gas and liquid fuels.

FUXIN, China - Rescue crews were searching Tuesday for coal miners missing nearly 800 feet underground after a gas explosion in China's northeast killed 203 people in the deadliest mining disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949.

The holiday movie season officially gets under way with "Elf." Will Ferrell of "Saturday Night Live" fame plays Buddy, an lumbering manchild raised by Christmas elves who leaves the North Pole for New York City to find his biological father (James Caan), an unprincipled book editor who somehow found his way onto Santa’s "naughty" list.

The Salt River Project has decided to drop a controversial coal mine project in New Mexico that had raised the ire of environmentalists and the Zuni and other Indian tribes.