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Still, the shift will take a while for the coal

Jan. 29, 2018 by Kimberly Parks

Still, the shift will take a while for the coal industry to recover. In its report, S&P Global Market Intelligence calculates the cost of a new coal plant in the new decade. "With the end of the transition, the market expects to see a continued decline in the cost of natural gas," explained the report. "In other words, the cost of gas has been eroded, reducing the incentive for utilities to invest in clean energy."

The report also found the rate of natural gas-fired capacity declining in 2017 compared to 2016. The decline could be because of a combination of factors. First is new projects being built and more and more low- and middle-income U.S. and Canadian companies looking to expand. That could mean the number of wind farms and solar roofs on the U.S. side of the Great Barrier Reef, which are expected to be more energy efficient, have fallen. And so on to the future.

If the Trump administration does not reverse coal's decline, it is likely to continue to face increasing competition from China, which is the world's largest producer of coal. Chinese-made coal is expected to account for roughly 40 percent of the world's electricity supply in 2020, up from 28 percent in 2015, according to estimates from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The U.S.-led effort to phase out coal-fired generation in the U.S. is currently stalled, as the country waits to hear from Congress on the final rules governing coal's decommissioning.A "dubious" new report from the U.S. Department of Labor highlights the serious problems plaguing the economy, in particular the decline in public spending on government services, and the increasing need for more tax credits for entrepreneurs and small business.

The report, titled "Federal Government Budget: Improving Prosperity for America's Small Businesses," was issued this week in response to comments from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The report, "Paying the Taxpayers for Tax Reform," says that in 2015, the federal deficit was $20.5 trillion, the largest deficit in American history, well above the budget deficit in the last three years.

"The public spending on services such as food, education, and health care is at the lowest levels in four decades, and the spending on Social Security is at the highest levels since the early 1970s," the report states. "The