The Path to a Cleaner Future in Wyoming’s Coal Country

For nearly 40 years, Wyoming has been the largest coal producer in the United States. Its communities and their identities have been inextricably tied to the resource, an identity that many people are now grappling with as coal continues to lose its footing in the energy market. 

In 2017, Wyoming produced 80,374 thousand short tons of coal, a sharp decline from the 387,924 thousand short tons it produced in 2013. A massive increase in instances of job loss and company shutdowns followed the decline in production. According to a Wyoming Research and Planning report, between 2014 and 2016, approximately 25,000 people were laid off because of the state’s economic downturn (Tribune). 

Continue to full article