It should come as little surprise that job growth is on the decline in the the U.S. coal industry. Instead of citing projections for the distant future, statistics about 2019 tell quite the story. the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that coal production will drop by 72 million short tons (MMst) or 9% in 2019. The 2019 production forecast of 684 MMst would be the first time in 40 years, that U.S. production is less than 700 MMst. As far as forecasting into next year, the EIA says that US coal consumption will fall to a low of 567 MMst in 2020. Coal is slowly but surely being displaced by several factors including the abundance of natural gas and dropping prices of the same, as well as the overall growth of renewable sources, even though renewables consitute a relatively small part of the power mix in many states, they nonethless remains on an explosive trajectory.

What is more surprising however is the current administration’s stand on a resource that’s less and less in demand. Not only does the Trump administration makes little effort to help transition the coal workforce into renewable related industries, but the administration continues to invest millions into coal while questioning the viability of renewables, even while renewable resources continue to drop in price and gain in popularity across Republican and Democratic strongholds alike.

Many utilities themselves are making moves to accommodate the growth of renewables while moving away from coal-fired power. States are offering net metering to provide credits for excess solar power, and utilities are allowing consumers to opt-in to get more of their power from solar and wind. All industries face watershed moments, or in the case of coal, perhaps a watershed decade. States and the federal government should do more to help workers transition to the world where they can work in industries that support a smarter grid and more sustainable energy inputs.