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>Beginning in the 1890's, Alabama coal miners - both black and white - began to organize and strike against the state's horrendous coal mining work conditions. Smaller strikes in 1894, 1904, and 1908 were followed by a six-month strike by 11,000 coal miners between 1920 and 1921 (some of the UMW's leaders during this strike were blacks), which was only broken when the National Guard killed 16 miners. However, unionization was much more successful in the 1930's, when the Great Depression and labor rights legislation made organizing significantly easier and less dangerous.With the decline of railroads after World War II, >Alabama's coal mining industry declined as well; production bottomed out at 10 million tons in 1954. In subsequent decades, however, coal production was revitalized, first by iron and steel production, and then by the coal power industry. Alabama's coal production hit 15 million tons in the late 1960's, and peaked at 29 million tons in 1990. In subsequent decades, competition from low-sulfur mines in Wyoming and Montana has caused Alabama's coal industry to decline once again; production declined to 18.8 million tons by 2006.[9]
>The coal power industry is historically very strong in Alabama, ever since the Tennessee Valley Authority built coal-fired power plants in Alabama on an unprecedented scale in the 1950's and 60's. In subsequent decades, the state's coal power industry continued to grow: 46% of the state's coal power capacity has been built since 1970. However, no new coal power plants have been built in Alabama since 1991, and there are currently no new proposals for coal power plants. 