Coal's decline affecting counties through severance tax cuts

Worked a good bit last week on a pair of stories about coal, the economic backbone of Southwest Virginia.

Market demands and the rise of natural gas has contributed to the decline of the coal industry in the last five years or so, and localities are feeling the pinch thanks to cuts in coal severance taxes, which are paid by the coal companies to the localities to help build roads, balance the budget and lay water lines.

Here's my story.

I also toured the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center recently; it's been running for about 2.5 years and burns waste -- gob -- coal and wood chips in addition to traditionally mined coal.

Here's my take on that.