Study: declining coal to continue hurting Appalachia - Entrepreneur Generations

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Researchers say that continuing decline of the coal industry will continue to affect businesses, health, education, and regional population in Appalachia. "The five-part study, An Economic Analysis of the Appalachian Coal Industry Ecosystem, notes that coal production in Appalachia fell nearly 45 percent between 2005 and 2015, more than double the rate of the national decline during the same period," Jim Gaines reports for USA Today. Correspondingly, coal generated 53 percent of electricity in Appalachia in 2015, down from 74 percent in 2005. And while coal mining jobs increased by 771 from 2016 to 2017, a rise of 1.4 percent, most coal states saw coal mining jobs decline. In 2016 there were fewer than 50,000 coal mining jobs in the U.S.

The areas hit hardest by coal's decline are West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, according to University of Tennessee economics professor Matt Murray, who coordinated the study with researchers from West Virginia University. The study was funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

"Coal mining jobs in West Virginia peaked at 130,000 in 1940, and fell nearly 90 percent by last year, Richardson wrote. Part of that decline was due to mechanization, part to larger operations in western states; but low natural gas prices, less use of coal to generate electricity and the rise of renewable sources cut into coal jobs too," Gaines reports. But the biggest factor in coal's decline is low natural gas prices, not environmental regulation.

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