Comment by paulyg

Lower gas prices certainly did not help, but if not for regulations introduced during the Obama administration, many coal plants would still be running. I worked, as an engineer, for a company that made equipment pretty much just for coal fired power plants from 2002-2014. Starting with the ammendments to the Clean Air Act in 2009, then the CSAPR, then MATS, we watched utility after utility make the decision to close plants rather than install the required emissions control equipment. So maybe if natural gas was more expensive they would have chosen to install the equipment, but if not for those regulations they would have just kept running.