Energy: Coal / USA
Significant decline since 2008

It’s Tuesday, August 7, and oh, ship! U.S. coal shipments are falling fast.

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

It’s Tuesday, August 7, and oh, ship! U.S. coal shipments are falling fast.


U.S. Energy Information Administration

There’s yet more bad news for coal. The amount of coal shipped by rail, the main way it gets to where it needs to go, has slumped, too. It’s now 33 percent lower than the amount that was getting caboosed around a decade ago.

The outlook doesn’t look too sunny for coal. Speaking of sunny, there is a type of energy that’s been steadily thriving in the U.S. The solar sector has ballooned 168 percent in the past eight years and now employs 250,000 people. That’s roughly five times as many people who work in coal. Might be time to switch teams, Trump!