Coal's fall in Colorado illustrates national decline

In recent years coal mining has taken a serious hit in Central Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky, where coal mining jobs are diminishing, some coal mines are closing, and towns that have always relied heavily on coal are facing a future without their main economic source. But the downturn in coal mining is nationwide. The Colorado Mining Association announced in August that coal production in the state was down 19 percent during the first half of this year compared to last year, and is down nearly 25 percent from 2004, business writer and researcher Howard Rothman writes for The Motley Fool, a multimedia financial-services company.

"Five of Colorado's nine operating mines are reporting year-over-year cuts in production," including an Arch Coal Inc. mine near the 500-population town of Somerset in Gunnison County (Wikipedia map) which reportedly reduced output by almost 25 percent, Rothman writes.

Overall, U.S. coal "consumption has dropped 24 percent since 2007 as utilities switched to the lower priced and cleaner-burning alternative for instance, and new federal clean-air regulations led to the closing of a record 57 coal-fired power plants in 2012 alone — with another 61 set to shut down by 2015, according to the Energy Information Administration," Rothman notes. (Read more)