Coal miners watch a piece of equipment pass by them in Tech Leasing and Rebuild Inc.'s Mine No. 1 in Buchanan County, Va.

A coal miner drives a scoop inside Tech Leasing and Rebuild Inc.'s Mine No. 1 in Buchanan County, Va. Once, coal miners were literally at war with their employers. Today, their descendants are allies in a war of words playing out across Eastern Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia and all of West Virginia.

A hill of coal waits to be used at NRG Energy's W.A. Parish Electric Generating Station in Thompsons, Texas, in 2011.