I do believe that President Obama's rhetoric to destroy the coal industry was, to some extent, just that: rhetoric. How much his administration had in destroying America's coal industry is hard to say, but when the history books are written, the destruction of America's coal industry will be linked back to this president, the first president to be so vocal on this issue.
I do not know if market forces (natural gas prices plummeting) could have done this on its own, but there are two important data points:
- coal can compete with very low natural gas prices, except for the mandated EPA regulations on coal
- regulatory efforts by various groups to prevent coal from being exported to Asia; Australia took advantage of their coal resources (though lately, my understanding is that even Australian coal industry might be facing some challenges due to global slowdown; I forget the specifics
The point is that the coal industry in this country could remain a vibrant industry if "we" wanted it to be. I have no dog in this fight. I do not invest in coal (except, I suppose, indirectly, through shares in railroad companies, which I had almost forgotten about).
I, for one, never expected power plants in this country to switch from coal to natural gas so quickly. See
linked story.
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