[Wonder Warthog]

"This trend will continue as the administration pushes it's war on coal. I know of a coal mine that is a class act. It has had over 50 citations by MSHA in the last two months.

At this point, the admainstration's "war on coal" is largely irrelevant (not that I am in favor or it,mind you). Coal simply is not competitive vs. a vs. natural gas for the generation of electricity.

[thackney]

Coal simply is not competitive vs. a vs. natural gas for the generation of electricity.

I believe that coal is still cheaper per raw BTU than Natural Gas. It is the regulations on coal that continue to add up greater cost in using it to produce electricity.

[thackney]

Some data:

delivered coal price will average $2.40 per MMBtu in 2012
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/report/coal.cfm

United States Natural Gas Industrial Price
~3.59 per MMBtu
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3035us3m.htm

Of course coal varies a lot in quality, so the number above is the average paid.

http://www.eia.gov/coal/news_markets/