![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/coal_fb.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
It was a cloudy February afternoon in Charleston, W.Va., but the mood inside the city’s civic center was downright celebratory. As bow-tied waiters mixed drinks and manned a buffet of shrimp cocktail and roasted meat, the hundreds of members and guests at the annual meeting of the West Virginia Coal Association mingled with a lightness that would have been unthinkable just a year before. Read more here.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Inside Fiji’s Fiery Battle Against Plastics
- Column: As Biden Vies to Salvage Nomination, Growing Chorus of Democrats Say It’s Too Late
- How to Watch Lost in 2024 Without Setting Yourself Up for Disappointment
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- The Rise of the Thirst Trap Villain
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox
Write to Justin Worland / Charleston, West Virginia at justin.worland@time.com