According to the EIA’s latest weekly report, coal production nationwide continues to drop, down 0.5 percent while West Virginia’s coal production is down 0.8 percent for the year ending 2/19/12. This is compared to just 0.3 percent nationally and 0.5 percent for West Virginia for the previous week, suggesting the decline in demand is getting steeper.
This sharp decrease is fueled by both a drop in demand as the nation’s utilities work through stockpiles of coal left from a mild winter and decreased demand for met coal because of the economic uncertainties around the world, as well as regulatory uncertainty caused by the Obama EPA’s on-going assault on coal.