Coal country cleanup: Biden plan sketches out possible future for former miners
Reuters | Jul 28, 2021 03:50 PM EDT
Troy Mullins, 20, and father Cosam Mullins, 86, pose for their portrait at an Abandoned Mine Land reclamation site where they both operate heavy equipment in Clinchco, western Virginia, U.S (Photo : REUTERS/Dane Rhys)
Cosam Mullins mined coal in the western hills of Virginia for much of his working life. Now, with mining jobs hard to find, he's cleaning up the mess the industry left behind.
The 68-year-old operates a bucket loader scraping away red, rocky waste dumped years ago by failed coal mine operators in a valley in the town of Clinchco, Virginia.