Here’s why Central Appalachia’s coal industry is dying

This article is a bit "older" but it highlights why the coal industry is dying. Counter to what many pundits and pols like to spout, it is not over-regulation, "[t]he entire U.S. coal industry is under pressure from a variety of forces — from the shale gas boom to coal-plant retirements — and the Appalachian region in particular is getting hurt by trends that have been building for decades."

First, as Patrick Reis reported over at National Journal, coal jobs in West Virginia and Kentucky have been vanishing for decades — long before Barack Obama became president.
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For one, coal mining has become increasingly automated in recent decades, particularly as companies have shifted to techniques such as mountaintop-removal mining, which are less labor intensive.
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Another big problem for Appalachia's coal industry has been competition from cheaper, low-sulfur coal out West — particularly from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
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On top of everything else, Central Appalachia's coal now appears to be running out, as many of the thick, easy-to-mine seams have vanished.
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And this is all before delving into the pressures that the entire U.S. coal industry is facing. A combination of cheap natural gas from shale fracking and new pollution regulations from the EPA have been elbowing aside coal in the electricity sector.



Here’s why Central Appalachia’s coal industry is dying