By Jason Simpkins
Coal mining in America predates colonization, going back to the 1300s.
Coal was once the lifeblood of U.S. industry, powering factories and locomotives through the industrial revolution.
Coal provided more than half of the country's energy from the 1880s to the 1980s.
So it's hard to imagine America without it (or maybe more accurately too much of it). But that's the direction we're headed.
Coal is in a death spiral.
Since 2012, 50 coal companies have gone bankrupt and 264 mines have closed.
Walter Energy, Alpha Natural Resources, and Patriot Coal all filed for Chapter 11 last year. And on Tuesday, Arch Coal "America's second-largest coal miner" joined them.
In its Chapter 11 petition, Arch listed assets of $5.85 billion and debts of $6.45 billion.
This is typical of the industry.
In one recent speech, Murray Energy Corp. CEO Robert Murray said that the coal-mining industry, "as a whole, taking all producers together, is now bankrupt."
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