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Leigh Paterson

Email: lpaterson@insideenergy.org; leighpaterson@rmpbs.org

Leigh Paterson was raised in New Jersey, graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and then taught English at a culinary high school in France. Leigh then got her Master's in Broadcast Journalism from the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and then moved to Washington D.C. in 2009. After spending two years as a producer at CanadianTV's Washington bureau, Leigh left to freelance. Since then, as a one woman show, she has reported for TV and radio from across the country for BBC News, BBC World Service, PRI's the World, ABC-Univision, Agence France Presse, and CBC News.

  • Peabody Coal, one of the largest coal producers in the world, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. It would be the latest in a string of major coal companies going under. But drive through Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where 40 percent of U.S. coal is mined, and it's as if nothing has changed, even at sites owned by bankrupt companies.
  • The U.S. coal industry is fading. As more companies declare bankruptcy, they may not be able to pay for land restoration projects — and taxpayers could be left with the cleanup bill.