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Can looser regulations save the coal industry from market forces?

Jed Kim Aug 21, 2018
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A truck dumps coal at a coal prep plant outside the city of Welch in rural West Virginia on May 19, 2017. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Can looser regulations save the coal industry from market forces?

Jed Kim Aug 21, 2018
A truck dumps coal at a coal prep plant outside the city of Welch in rural West Virginia on May 19, 2017. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
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The Environmental Protection Agency released details today of its plan to replace the Obama-era rules governing carbon emissions from power plants. The EPA’s proposals differ radically from the old Clean Power Plan. They give a lot of concessions to the coal industry. President Donald Trump has long promised to end what he calls the “war on coal.” But even if this plan makes it through the long, dirty fight to become law, how much difference can regulatory changes make to the coal industry in the face of rapidly evolving market forces?

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