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Mexico’s president revived dangerous form of coal mining

FILE - A tower, used by a rescue team to enter the Pinebete mine where miners are trapped, is silhouetted against an afternoon sky in Sabinas, Coahuila state, Mexico, Aug. 4, 2022. Fifteen men were working inside the mines, about 70 miles southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas on Aug. 3., when a wall of water from an abandoned mine next door filled the single shaft 40 meters (yards) deep. Five miners managed to escape as the mine flooded, but there has been no contact with the rest. (AP Photo/Alfredo Lara, File) FILE - Framed images of coal miners killed in a mine explosion adorn a makeshift altar, at the entrance to the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in San Juan de Sabinas, Mexico, Nov. 2, 2007. An underground explosion on Feb. 19, 2006, ripped through the mine, killing 65 miners. Small-scale coal mining appeared to be dying out in Coahuila, until Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador enacted a plan in 2020 to revive coal-fired power plants in northern Mexico by giving preference to buying coal from the smallest, most primitive mines. (AP Photo/David Oziel, File) FILE - Relatives of miners who are trapped in a collapsed and flooded coal mine wait for information outside the Pinebete mine in Sabinas in Mexico's Coahuila state, Aug. 4, 2022. Hopes are fading of rescuing the 10 men who have been trapped in the flooded coal mine for over three weeks. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Monroy, File) FILE - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stands on a stage from where he gives his daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, July 8, 2022. Promoting coal is part of Lopez Obrador’s effort to shore up the state-owned power utility, the Federal Electricity Commission. Not only was it questioned by environmentalists; many also said it endangered miners.  (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File) FILE - Volunteers drain water from a flooded and collapsed coal mine where miners are trapped in Sabinas, Coahuila state, Mexico, Aug. 4, 2022. Fifteen men were working inside the Pinabete mine in Sabinas, about 70 miles southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas on Aug. 3. A wall of water from an abandoned mine next door filled the single shaft 40 meters (yards) deep. Five miners managed to escape as the mine flooded, but there has been no contact with the rest. (AP Photo/Alfredo Lara, File) FILE - Miners helping in the rescue operation of fellow trapped miners are interviewed in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila state, Mexico, May 4, 2011. The administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has resuscitated a form of coal mining so dangerous and primitive that both houses of Mexico’s Congress tried to ban it in 2012. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)
Mexico’s president revived dangerous form of coal mining