Coal power almost anywhere is prohibitively expensive for the purposes of mining. Generally places that use coal are desperate for power so residents will pay 2

Coal power almost anywhere is prohibitively expensive for the purposes of mining. Generally places that use coal are desperate for power so residents will pay 20c or so per kwh, which is way more than any miner would pay. Mining profits are razor thin already, so they need to go where they can get the cheapest power they can, which is usually right next door to hydro plants. Right now the coal industry is being subsidized by US taxpayers, so maybe we could start by not doing that as much.