1.   The Venezuelan state coal mining company Corpozulia has continued to develop open-cast mining on Yukpa lands despite it being declared illegal by the Venezuelan Agrarian Office.

2.   Two private coal companies have already expressed an interest in operating the pit.

3.   Bush says he is promoting clean skies, but he may let coal companies cloud the rivers with the waste they slash off mountaintops.

4.   Coal companies, family farmers, ski slope operators, state football coaches, casinos and sugar farmers.

5.   Coal companies point to feeble returns as motivating showdowns.

6.   Coal companies -- and jobs -- would likely suffer the most.

7.   Coal companies and the railroads that hauled coal often deployed armed thugs to respond to labor agitation.

8.   Decades before that, coal companies in neighboring towns had gone bust.

9.   Energy Group, which was spun off by Hanson Plc in February, owns a large U.K. electric utility and Peabody Holding Inc., the biggest U.S. coal company.

10.   Energy Group, which was spun off last year by Hanson Plc, the U.K. conglomerate, owns a large U.K. electric utility and the biggest U.S. coal company.