Declining coal demand across several sectors, especially electricity generation, has led to a 28-percent slump in U.S. coal mining productive capacity since the peak in 2009, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. At its peak in 2009, the coal capacity across the United States, that is, the maximum amount of coal that mines can produce in a year, was 1,407 million short tons (MMst). This capacity had fallen to 1,009 MMst in 2019. During the same ten-year period, America’s coal production plunged by 35 percent as many mines were closed while those in operation produced lower volumes of coal, the EIA said. Mine capacity utilization has also declined over the past decade, as demand for coal in the electric power sector and the industrial and commercial sectors has dropped. Coal mine capacity utilization stood at 70 percent last year, down from an average of 72 percent between […]