In an article titled ‘Arch Coal’s future gets darker,’ the Wall Street Journal reports:
The combined value of Arch and rivals Peabody Energy Corp. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is barely $400 million. Other miners have filed for bankruptcy protection, a fate likely to befall some more.
Big Coal is at once a faint shadow of itself yet still vital economically. Mainly used for power generation and metallurgy, the percentage of U.S. electricity from coal-fired plants recently fell to 30%, just below the share from natural gas, according to SNL Energy. Five years ago, coal had twice the share of gas at 44%. But years of cheap, abundant shale output and tightening environmental standards have led many utilities to shut coal plants.