A decade ago, coal generated almost half of America's electricity while natural gas produced about one-fifth of the total. With the onset of the Obama years, coal groaned under the sustained weight of federal regulatory pressure, a public campaign to vilify coal, low natural gas prices, and a reluctance of capital to invest in what was largely seen as a source of energy under official government assault. Thus in 2017, after 10 years of decline, coal provided 30.1 percent of America's electricity —second to natural gas at 31.7 percent.
Donald Trump's election, with the help of Ohio and Pennsylvania coal country, unleashed a tectonic shift in the energy landscape. President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and jettisoning of the Obama Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan confirmed the end to the federal government's war on coal.
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