Okay okay...the bad news is, coal use is dropping off MOSTLY because of cheap natural gas prices.
The GOOD news is, 2012 domestic coal use has dropped by 20% from 2011, leaving coal now at 36% of the electricity production share. I'd like to point out that coal use DECREASED during an economic recovery (such as it is).
It's not entirely natural gas use, however...
The fact of the matter is that coal is in the crosshairs. Natural gas, environmental groups and regulations, renewable energy, even survivalists putting ever cheaper solar panels on their homes.
The U.S. coal industry if facing major headwinds. The current drop in generation is mostly due to competition from natural gas. But there are other factors that will assist in pushing coal out of the electricity mix: An aging fleet of plants, cost-competitive renewables, new clean air regulations, and a strong anti-coal movement are working together to reduce the attractiveness of coal. Since 2010, plant operators have announced 106 retirements of coal facilities — representing 13 percent of the U.S. fleet, according to the Sierra Club.
Touching on that bit about aging fleets, Muskegon's 60+ year old coal fired power plant, the BC Cobb plant,
is set to be decommissioned in 2015 as on of SEVEN mothballed coal units...
In December 2011, Consumers Energy formally canceled its plans to build an 830-MW coal-fueled plant at its Karn/Weadock complex in Michigan, and has additional plans to idle seven old coal units in 2015, Consumers parent CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) reported in its Feb. 23 annual Form 10-K report.
For generations, and for my entire life, the BC Cobb plant has towered over an otherwise beautiful Muskegon Lake.
One of the biggest reasons for that closure...reduced demand, and any remaining demand after the closure is already met with new wind farms.
It's a new world out there.