Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared <a href="https://x.com/SecretaryBurgum/status/2014382110828536183" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">an unusual tweet</a>: a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, anthropomorphized lump of coal. This piece of coal has big googly eyes and a smudge of a nose, and is wearing a safety vest and a hard hat. He is, frankly, adorable—and he has a name: Coalie.When Coalie first appeared on the internet, he went viral—ridiculed on social media, in newsletters, and even on <a href="https://youtu.be/IhAXXY4SqW0?si=LMRHCeVWQMk0VScC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">late night talk shows</a>. And that’s because this big-eyed, cute piece of coal was widely understood to be coal propaganda, a tool to soften the coal industry’s image.But the truth about Coalie is more complicated. His origins tell a story about what it’s like for federal employees to try to do their work while navigating the Trump administration’s agenda. Coalie may be widely seen as a mascot for coal mining, but that’s not what he was made for.In this episode, you’ll hear from Simone Randolph, Director of Communications for the <a href="https://www.osmre.gov/news/stories/10-things-know-about-how-osmre-supports-americas-energy-legacy-and-communities" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE)</a>; Sara Eckert, formerly of OSMRE; Slate staff writer <a href="https://slate.com/author/nitish-pahwa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nitish Pahwa</a>; and <a href="https://www.leahstokes.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leah Stokes</a>, who researches climate and energy policy at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-hosts the podcast <a href="https://www.degreespod.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Matter of Degrees</a>.Thank you to Daniel Raimi, Tony Ho Tran, and Hannah Northey.This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Our show is also produced by Max Freedman and Katie Shepherd. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:DecoderRing@slate.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DecoderRing@slate.com</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>. Or, visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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