The EconomistAugust 10th 2019 United States 33R
usty bellclimbs a roadside platform
and gazes at the sweeping, flower-
strewn landscape of northern Wyoming.
Immediately before him is a vast hole. Ea-
gle Butte, a canyon of grey and brown rock,
is one of the largest coal mines in America.
The commissioner of Campbell County
calls it a mainstay of the economy. Nearby
Gillette, for example, has a swanky recrea-
tion centre, decent public-health services,
a community college and more, all thanks
to coal revenues, he says.
Mr Bell’s problem is that nothing moves
in the hole. Yellow lorries on the valley
floor look tiny and toylike in the distance.
Each is really a giant able to haul a payload
of 400 tons. The tyres on each one are more
than twice the height of a tall man. But
where a shift of 75 workers usually toils, all
is still. Where trains 1.5 miles (2.4km) long
used to leave from the mine’s edge, their
140 cars brimming with low-sulphur coal,
nothing stirs. Buses that bring 8,000 tour-
ists a year to the mine are also locked out.
The operator, Blackjewel, last year
shipped 34m tons from Eagle Butte and a
sister mine. About 165bn tons of recover-
able coal remain under the prairie grass of
the wider Powder River basin. In theory
that means hundreds of years of digging
yet. But in July Blackjewel declared bank-
ruptcy, chained its gates and sent home
over 1,700 workers nationally, including
580 in Wyoming. Officials and residents inGillette lament “horrible” incompetence
by its boss. The mayor, Louise Carter-King,
blames “complete mismanagement”, vow-
ing that “these mines will reopen”.
In reality Blackjewel’s troubles reflect
industry-wide woes. Cloud Peak Energy
runs three mines nearby and declared
bankruptcy in May. Six Wyoming operators
have done so since 2015. Some are consoli-
dating, others have restructured and re-
opened. Nonetheless, production is
slumping. America consumes 40% less
coal than at its peak in 2005. Just over a de-
cade ago, thermal coal produced half the
nation’s electricity; today it accounts for
little more than a quarter. Many investors
are abandoning coal. The only real uncer-
tainty is when digging it will cease to be a
significant business. The mayor, gamely,
says that “for 10 to 20 years the nation will
still need coal in the mix.” Others say lon-
ger. The overall trend, either way, is down-
wards as steeply as the edges of Eagle Butte.
Almost a century ago 860,000 coal min-
ers toiled in America; by January just
53,000 did. Roughly 17,000—including
those employed indirectly—are in Wyo-
ming, many in Campbell County. They are
highly skilled and typically earn almost
$90,000 a year, double the state average.
But power utilities increasingly shun what
they produce. The Sierra Club estimates
that 239 coal-fired plants survive, down
from 600 in 2007. Around the corner fromEagle Butte is Dry Fork, one of the newest
coal-fired stations. It cost $1.3bn and
opened in 2011. Talk of a second plant came
to nothing. Utilities prefer cheaper and
cleaner natural gas, solar or wind power.
Academics from Columbia University
forecast coal consumption crumbling by
another 25% in the coming decade. For
Campbell County, which digs two-fifths of
America’s coal, that may be the best it can
hope for. Many power plants now mix gas
with coal, cutting demand. If other energy
sources get cheaper, or if congressional
Democrats succeed in passing laws de-
signed to limit carbon emissions, demand
will fall faster.
Some in Wyoming—which overwhelm-
ingly backed Donald Trump in 2016—see a
liberal conspiracy against coal workers and
their hardscrabble way of life. One Gillette
resident says proponents of clean energy
are set on “direct attacks on the good peo-
ple” who work there. Many scoff at curbing
carbon emissions. “I’m not sold that the ice
caps are melting, most people aren’t per-
suaded by climate change,” says Phil Chris-
topherson, boss of a group trying to diver-
sify Gillette’s economy.
Such denial helps nobody. Jim Ford, an-
other local who works on diversifying the
local economy away from mining, con-
cedes there is “widespread distaste for car-
bon-flavoured kilowatts, [so] it doesn’t
matter what we think.” Locals also know
that exports alone won’t save the county.
Governors of western coastal states refuse
to let their ports be used—or a new one be
built—for shipping Wyoming coal.
Michael Von Flatern, a state senator, ex-
pects “we’ll be headed for bust more often
than boom” as the industry slows. He
praises efforts to test how to burn coal
cleanly, by catching emissions, but says
“we’re 20 years too late” in starting such ex-
periments. Mr Ford describes a $20m inter-
national effort at Dry Fork to extract carbon
from flue gases while producing market-
able products from it. Some local firms
hope to use coal to make asphalt, carbon fi-
bre or water filters.It never will again
Such activities, so far, are small-bore. Mr
Von Flatern thus expects tighter belts and
rising property taxes to come, because resi-
dents cannot expect taxes on minerals (oil,
gas and some uranium are also extracted)
to keep paying for 58% of all the county’s
bills. Wyoming gets an estimated $900m a
year in royalties and fees from coal miners.
That sum is starting to fall.
The mayor talks of luring firearm-mak-
ers or other industries to use Gillette’s rail-
way, roads, airport, energy, skilled labour
and water. She notes how trade shows, tou-
rism and conferences are growing. “We
know we need to diversify, but it takes
time,” she says. And time is short. 7GILLETTE, WYOMING
America’s coal capital knows it must rethink its futureLife after coalComin’ round the bend