Coal Mine

ST. LOUIS — A coal producer owned by a longtime critic of President Barack Obama’s energy policies will lay off nearly 160 workers at Illinois and Utah mines, blaming the freshly re-elected president for a "war on coal."

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s police are investigating each of the 34 killings of striking mine workers and are also looking into allegations that more than 150 arrested miners have been beaten in police custody, the police directorate of complaints spokesman said Monday.

SALT LAKE CITY — Misdemeanor criminal charges have been filed and fines levied against the operator of a Utah mine where a 2007 collapse killed six miners, two rescuers and a federal inspector, Federal prosecutors said Friday.

PANGUITCH -- It was the simple beauty of the sagebrush hills and the first-rate fishing that drew Vince Salvato here 15 years ago. "All I wanted was a quiet, pristine place with clean air," he said, sipping sarsaparilla inside Bronco Bobbi's curio shop in this tiny town in southern Utah. "That's why I came here."

But the tranquility has been broken by the day-and-night rumble of trucks ferrying coal from a strip mine near Bryce Canyon National Park to a power plant three hours to the north.

The gritty fuel helps satisfy the huge appetite for power more than 500 miles away in Los Angeles. But it is now stoking controversy at both ends of the transmission lines over energy policy, environmental damage and how much consumers should pay to kick the coal habit.