Mountaintop removal mining is just one facet of a debate that is gearing up to be as heated as health care reform, as lawmakers consider climate-inspired legislation that would fundamentally redefine the nation’s relationship with coal.

“The coal industry is under attack and West Virginia is ground zero for that attack,” an industry representative says.

A motorcycle taxi driver named Eagle introduced me to Cambodia when I visited Phnom Penh ten years ago. I went back and found him six years later.