Chapter 6: Updates

  • January 2011: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a reduction of surface unit operator jobs (which means surface mine worker jobs) of 16.5% by 2018
  • June 2011: Massey Energy merges with Alpha Energy, creating a company that accounts for 25% of all American mountaintop removal mining. The merger has made Alpha the world’s 3rd largest producer of metallurgic coal.
  • July 13, 2011: HR 2018 passed the House of Representatives. This bill, called the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, would amend the Clean Water Act to give states the power to override federal EPA determinations of “unacceptable adverse effect” in cases of water pollution. If signed into law by the president, this bill will dismantle one of the only legal protections against water pollution from mountaintop removal mining.
  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.