About one-third of our electricity is generated by coal, the same amount by natural gas, one-fifth from nuclear, and the rest from hydro-electric, oil, and "green" sources. Coal's market has been shrinking as the price of natural gas has dropped.
Doesn’t it still cost about 40% more to power a plant with gas than with coal?
The way I understand it, planners are shying away from coal plants because they don’t want to take a chance on being shuttered or having to pay millions to comply with new regs every few years.