In 2020, at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, United States coal production dipped to a 50-year low, with 151 domestic coal mines either closed or on hiatus. It seemed that coal was on a definitive, one-way track toward obsolescence. The past couple of years, however, have been anything but ordinary and all but predictable. By the end of 2021, U.S. coal production had reversed its downward trend and was spiking for the first time in years. A global energy crunch has sent demand for virtually any kind of energy production…
