The 10-year coal slump in Southwest Virginia

I dug through the state Department of Mine, Minerals and Energy numbers to see how much the coal industry has changed in the past decade.

I discovered that in the past 10 years, the annual coal tonnage produced has been cut in half -- due largely to the rise of less expensive natural gas, the expense of mining coal in the Appalachian Basin, and uncertainty on the part of the coal operators about what changes are coming down the pipe from the feds.

You can read the full story here.