I live in an anthracite coal region. The industry is moribund already. Some communities look like Starnesville in Atlas Shrugged. Centralia is still burning, coal operations seen along the highway are abandoned. Young people raised here try to leave, old people struggle on with assistance, and urban refugees on assistance are coming in, attracted by low taxes, low crime, low real estate prices. Meanwhile the older residents still call this area the “Saudi Arabia of coal.” Except in Saudi Arabia you’d be allowed to take it out of the ground and sell it without much of a hassle.
PS: If you’re wondering, the major economic enterprise around here is health care. That’s where the (government) money is, and a high percentage of senior citizens to bait the hook.
I’d be curious to know how much of the coal from that region was ever used to generate electricity for public utilities. My understanding is that Pennsylvania coal was used almost entirely as fuel for steam locomotives, and as coking fuel for steel mills. I suspect the transition from steam to diesel locomotives and the decline of the steel industry in Pennsylvania were bigger factors in the decline of the anthracite coal industry than anything else.