Trump Catches Fire In Depressed Coal Region:
The war on coal… the battle lines drawn. Particular states may be of interest to the Trump campaign this fall..
In rustic Buchanan County, 94 percent of residents are white and pickup trucks are the vehicle of choice – many carry bumper stickers declaring the primacy of the region’s main industry through slogans like “Can’t Keep The Lights On in America Without Coal From Virginia” or “Stop The War On Coal.”
For generations, coal has been the lifeblood in the region known as Appalachia, which includes southwestern Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and parts of Pennsylvania.
That’s changed drastically in the past 20 years. A major consumer of coal, the U.S. steel industry, has struggled against cheaper imports, closing down smelters from Pennsylvania to Ohio and cutting the demand for metallurgical coal, the higher-grade coal found in Buchanan and surrounding areas.
In the past five years, a global supply glut has driven down coal prices drastically. The company that operates Buchanan County’s largest functioning coal mine reported a steep fall in fourth-quarter prices, from $68.58 per ton in 2014 to $48.41 in 2015.
