This Coal Miner Shows Limits of Trump's Bid to Rescue Industry
- Cloud Peak Energy shares are down the most in 15 months
- Company is struggling to hang on to enough utility customers
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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To understand the big challenge facing U.S. coal miners, look no further than Cloud Peak Energy Inc.
The company, which plunged the most in 15 months on Friday, extracts all of its coal from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. Unlike some rivals, it sells exclusively to electricity generators. And despite White House efforts to roll back regulations to boost the industry, Cloud Peak faces the daunting task of keeping enough power-plant customers amid the onslaught of competition from cheap natural gas and the growth of wind and solar power.