Coal production in the US hits a 42-year low

U.S. coal production fell another 7% in 2019 - the lowest amount of coal extracted in the United States since 1978 during the national miners' strike, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA). And it will go down even further in 2020 as the international appetite for coal has waned with the pandemic. U.S. coal production was 706 million standard tons in 2019, compared to 756 million standard tons in the previous year.   Coal is going to get worse this year as production is expected to return to a level that has not been reached since the 1960s. Wyoming, the largest coal-producing state in the United States, saw a 9% decline in 2019, which is responsible for most of the production decline. West Virginia, the second largest coal producer in the United States, saw only a 2% decline last year, according to EIA data. Arizona ceased coal production late last year, while Kansas and Arkansas ceased production in 2017 and 2018, respectively. This shortened the list of states that promote the energy source, which is now considered the most unfavorable even among the non-climate-conscious population. For 2020, the EIA outlook for US coal production is bleak, with the agency anticipating another 29% annual loss. The EIA uses railway wagon load data to estimate production, which fell 27.1% on July 18 over the same period last year. The expected decline this year is primarily due to a decline in US coal exports, which were 29% lower in May than in the five months of 2019. But coal shouldn't be counted yet. Coal production increased during the week ending July 18, and the EIA assumes that US coal production will increase 7% again next year as gas prices are expected to rise. This will make coal-fired power plants more competitive in price than their "cleaner" competitor.