>do you really think those jobs will return given the cheapness now of solar and natural gas? In the county and state where I live (Somerset County, PA) the ma

>do you really think those jobs will return given the cheapness now of solar and natural gas? In the county and state where I live (Somerset County, PA) the majority of coal production is metallurgical, so we are more sensitive to the demand for steel than to the price of natural gas. That demand is on an uptick, so there are 4 new mines planned for PA (2 in my county)[1]. But there was a similar spike in demand back in 2008, which didn't end up making much of an impact on employment. For example, PBS coals, whose headquarters I drive past every day, had ~600 employees in 2008 when they were bought by Severstal (a Russian steel company), who planned on adding ~150 more jobs.[2] In 2014 they were acquired by Corsa Coals (from Canada), who laid off about 130 miners in 2015.[3] TLDR: no I don't think those jobs will return. [1] http://www.coalage.com/news/latest/5510-4-new-met-mines-planned-for-pennsylvania.html http://www.coalage.com/news/latest/5510-4-new-met-mines-plan... [2] http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1531216/russian_steelmaker_to_buy_pbs_coals_in_somerset/ http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1531216/russian_steelm... [3] http://triblive.com/business/headlines/7530395-74/mines-coal-corsa http://triblive.com/business/headlines/7530395-74/mines-coal...