Coal premiered on SPK on March 30, 2011. This series explores coal mining through the eyes of Mike Crowder and Tom Roberts, part-owners of Cobalt Mine in Westchester, West Virginia, and the area's hard-working miners, families and community members. Crowder and Roberts face pressure every minute of every day not only to keep the mine up and running, but also to keep their workers safe in a highly combustible environment where one wrong move could prove deadly. The duo leads more than 40 machine operators, foremen, electricians and coal truck drivers in one of the most dangerous workplaces on the planet, underneath the mountains of Appalachia. Every aspect of the job will be covered, from the dangers behind the super-charged mining process, to the well-publicized daily dangers of working in the dark recesses of the earth's crust in a traditional underground mine and the lengths to which the mine goes in order to ensure worker safety to the sense of accomplishment and pride in finally bringing coal to the surface.
