Romney and Obama Fail to Address Coal Industry Challenges

Bloomberg reported that, although Romney and Obama had argued over the merits of coal power in their recent debates, neither have acknowledged some of the challenges facing the industry from a cost and from an environmental standpoint.

As quoted in the editorial:

What the candidates also fail to mention is that coal consumption is already declining as a result of economic realities that have little to do with federal regulations meant to make it cleaner. The price of natural gas, coal’s main competitor in the electricity-generation business, has fallen to historic lows. Natural-gas power plants, cheap and easy to build and run, are springing up across the U.S. Electricity demand is almost flat. And slowly but surely, as states demand it, renewable sources of power such as solar and wind are carrying a greater share of demand.

To view the whole Bloomberg editorial, click here.