Chris West has given up on coal. In the past year, the 42-year-old former miner was laid off by a company that later filed for bankruptcy and another that has gone out of business. Mr. West lives in a hilly region here where the conveyor belts at massive roadside mining complexes have gone still, prompting local governments to plan cuts to schools, trash collection and other services. “Everything here is depressed,” said Mr. West, who lost his car after he couldn’t make monthly payments and is struggling to put a daughter through college. After training for three months to be an emergency medical technician, he now makes $15 an hour, 40% less than his mining pay. “I don’t see coal ever coming back as strong as it was.” The governors of West Virginia and Wyoming, the nation’s top two coal-producing states, are also trying to make ends meet. […]