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HughPickens.com [hughpickens.com] writes:

Coal still helps keep our lights on, generating nearly 40 percent of U.S. power. But it generated more than 50 percent just over a decade ago, and the big question now is how rapidly its decline will continue. Almost every watt of new generating capacity is coming from natural gas, wind or solar; the coal industry now employs fewer workers than the solar industry, which barely existed in 2010. Is there a "war on coal"? Sam Batkins writes the market cap of four of the largest coal companies was more than $35 billion in 2011 but after a flurry of regulation, there's been a decline in their market cap of 99 percent [americanactionforum.org]. According to Batkins EPA and the Department of Interior have combined to impose $312 billion in costs and more than 30 million paperwork burden hours. All of these burdens aren’t directed solely at the coal industry, but the Clean Power Plan, coal residuals rule, the MATS measure, and Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will impose nearly $20 billion in annual burdens on the industry.

But Barry Ritholtz says that regulation is not the whole story and that cheap natural has been a huge factor [chicagotribune.com]. According to Ritholtz, coal-fired plants have been the workhorses of U.S. electrical generation for the better part of a century. "Many utilities are switching from coal to natural gas as an energy source. It isn't only greener, it's cheaper, partly because it costs less to move gas through a pipeline than it costs to transport coal by ship, rail or truck," says Ritholtz. "The reality is that coal is the victim of competition from cheaper natural gas, from green-energy sources like solar and wind, and too much debt taken on to pay for costly and ill-timed acquisitions." Coal retirements have enabled Obama to pledge U.S. emissions cuts of up to 28 percent by 2025, which has, in turn, enabled him to strike a climate deal with China and pursue a global deal later this year in Paris. “We’ve found the secret sauce to making progress in unlikely places,” says Bruce Nilles. “And every time we beat the coal boys, people say: ‘Whoa. It can be done. [politico.com]’”

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