The study found an estimated 26,000 lives were saved by replacing coal with natural gas, but health impacts from fracking weren't considered in the study.
A new analysis of satellite imagery shows how a section of West Virginia with the most strip-mine damage from the coal industry is also the most susceptible to increased streamflow.
The rules include an extension for the closure of unlined coal ash lagoons. A recent study has shown more than 90% of these sites are leaking arsenic and other toxins at levels exceeding EPA health standards.
When it became clear that coal ash waste from a nearby power plant was making them sick, residents of one West Virginia town mobilized. But activists fear weakened regulations will make it harder for others to do the same.
The largest underground coal mining company in America said it faces billions of dollars in debt and liabilities, and tough market conditions for coal.
