Along with oil and natural gas, coal is an essential part of the energy tripod that keeps the U.S. economy the largest in the world.

Lawyers for an environmental group and Native American tribes trying to block another expansion at one of the biggest gold mines in North America say the U.S. government — in concert with the largest gold company in the world — is making an unprece...

An electronics recycling company in Badin, Washington was talking Saturday to applicants for jobs at a facility that could employ as many as 200 people. A building that once was part of Alcoa's aluminum smelting operation is being upgraded to house an outpost of Electronic Recyclers International, said company president John Shegerian. "We use manual labor to take the screens out of the machines, and then start segregating the material," Shegerian said. "Then the carcasses all go into the shredding machine." He said the materials are then sold to manufacturers, which use the plastic, aluminum and copper to make new products. The only thing left to dispose of is a little dust. It's a process Shegerian calls "urban mining."