Peabody Energy Corporation (BTU)

[Crusen]

The market has spoken: Coal is dying

(CNN Business) —
President Donald Trump has gutted regulations on the coal industry, falsely claimed that windmills cause cancer and installed a former coal lobbyist to lead the EPA.

In the face of those efforts to rescue coal country, America’s aging fleet of coal-fired power plants continues to shrink. New coal plants are not getting built.

Trump’s vow to rip up environmental rules has been overwhelmed by an even more powerful force: the free market. Coal just can’t keep up with dirt-cheap natural gas and increasingly affordable renewables.

"The economics have been front and center on this transition.”

Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good

“It’s hard to see any scenario where coal rebounds,” said Joe Aldina, manager of coal research at S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Approximately 15% of America’s coal fleet has been retired since 2017, the year Trump took office, according to Platts.

And that trend will probably continue. Platts expects another 10% of the coal fleet will be shuttered between 2019 and 2020. That translates to more than 100 coal-fired units at power plants.

“Coal is going to get phased out over the long term,” Aldina said.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/business/coal-power-dying/index.html