Credit FILE PHOTO: Barbara Brosher / WFIU/WTIU News
COVID-19 has put pressure on Indiana’s already struggling coal mining industry. Coal production dropped by nearly 37 percent last year — more than any of the other top coal mining states. Experts said it’s unlikely coal production in the U.S. will recover to what it was before the pandemic.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration shows overall coal production in the U.S. last year was the lowest it's been since 1965.
Rosalyn Berry manages the coal statistics program at the EIA. She said the “Stay-At-Home” orders during the pandemic are responsible for a lot of the decline.