Making Coal Cute Again

10 snips

Feb 11, 2026

Nitish Pahwa, Slate writer on energy and politics, and Simone Randolph, communications director at OSMRE, discuss Coalie, a viral cartoon coal. They trace Coalie’s origin as an in-office mascot, the agency’s public rollout, and how the image collided with political messaging and late-night ridicule. Short takes on design choices, legal limits on promotion, and what comes next for Coalie.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

OSMRE's Actual Mission

OSMRE enforces coal mining rules and funds reclamation of abandoned mine lands.
The agency has distributed billions for cleanup and even funded community projects on reclaimed sites.

ANECDOTE

Coley's Professional Makeover

After the 2021 infrastructure bill, OSMRE saw a chance to publicize its work and resurrect Coley.
Leadership approved a professional redesign so Coley could be an approachable public narrator for reclamation projects.

ADVICE

Use Relatable Storytelling To Win Trust

Explain agency work in approachable ways to build public trust and justify tax dollars.
Use relatable characters or formats to make technical work accessible and invite questions.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet: 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 late night talk shows. 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 Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE); Sara Eckert, formerly of OSMRE; Slate staff writer Nitish Pahwa; and Leah Stokes, who researches climate and energy policy at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-hosts the podcast A Matter of Degrees.

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 DecoderRing@slate.com 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 Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.