posted as a "comment" a few moments ago:

Read and reread this commentary by a coal industry representative, and note one thing: Nowhere in this does the author once mention the impact on coal of the discovery of massive amounts of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.  No, forget the fact that major utilities across the country voluntarily converted from coal to natural gas -- solely because of its cheap price - $2/mcf, down 80% from its peak $13/mcf in 2008. No, it wasn't the market. It was "artificial manipulation" of electric markets by those evil bureaucrats who came to power in 2009 (you're supposed to read that as Jan 20, 2009, i.e., Obama).  And disregard the gross expansion of debt by Peabody and the other major coal companies in the years 2011 and following, blindly expecting the good times to roll on forever; nope, that played no role in putting the entire industry in bankruptcy.  One cannot help but observe that, if this commentary is the most intellectual power the coal industry can bring to the topic, it's no wonder they've gone bust.  But the industry's future is, despite the dim bulbs at the helm, not hopeless.  Their best hope for the future?  The world is scheduled to go from 7 billion folks to 9 billion over the next 20 or so years; the coal industry may just hang on to a niche in that ever expanding world.  If only they will take off the blinders and look at the world with eyes open and an actually functioning intellect.