Well, folks, postings on Coal Tattoo are going to be pretty scarce for a week or so … I’ll be back online full-time after Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday next week.

But first, one last blast with a roundup of coal-related news and commentary from the last week.

There were several stories this week that focused on efforts by West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller to stall consideration of the climate change bill while he works to get more in it to protect the coal industry. Those stories came from Politico and  The Hill.

Scientific American had a somewhat related piece titled, What will it take to force political action on climate change.  And thanks to Joseph Romm at Climate Progress for pointing out a Time magazine piece that pointed out that the science of climate change is growing much more dire as inaction to limit greenhouse emissions continues. Meanwhile, the Guardian points out that global temperatures could  rise by 6 degrees C by the end of this century. Jeff Biggers at The Huffington Post continues to wonder when a top Obama administration official will visit coal country to take a look at mountaintop removal mining up close.

Forbes reports that coal isn’t dead, while Virginia Tech is launching a major study with NIOSH of mine ventilation, aimed at examining to look at the effects of mine bumps, roof falls and explosions on underground mine ventilation systems.

Environmental groups are filing a lawsuit over coal-ash pollution from a Prince George’s County, Md., landfill, and  West Virginia Blue had this interesting piece about economic benefits of dealing with climate change.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting had this interesting piece about a mine permit debate in Mercer County,  and this one about the follow-up to the Dunkard Creek disaster. The New York Times published this piece about coal towns in China.

And make sure not to miss Massey Energy President Don Blankenship’s latest comments on climate change here.