Since Obama took office in 2009, many coal companies have gone bankrupt including recently Alpha Natural Resources (ANRZ). The EPA has begun to set regulations on the previously limitless amount of carbon emissions that could be let off into the air. This decline is partly due to the increase of natural gas because of its lesser cost.

 

With so many coal procuring companies going under, natural gas has begun to take over as the next big fossil fuel in use. After Obama released a new climate change initiative, the stocks of many coal based energy companies tumbled over 8%. Because other nations growth no longer require coal, there is less reason for it to be mined.

Companies have struggled for five years in an environment of strict regulation, & Prices, L. (2015, August 3). Coal companies have been scorched under Obama. Retrieved August 24, 2015.