Way back in the 2008 campaign …

… Joe Biden said he and his running mate would make sure no more coal-fired plants would be built in the U.S. Obviously, that would mean a huge downturn in U.S. coal production, with other countries picking up the slack. As in:

“(Bloomberg) -- Exports from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the world’s largest single facility for the fuel, rose to a record in 2014.

“The terminal shipped 71.2 million metric tons last year compared with 70.2 million tons 12 months earlier, Chief Executive Officer Nosipho Siwisa-Damasane told reporters at the port on Tuesday. It also received 72.4 million tons by rail, 2.8 percent more than in 2013. This is the second year that deliveries and exports have exceeded 70 million tons. The target for shipments was 72 million tons.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-20/south-african-richards-bay-coal-exports-climb-to-record-in-2014

Under Obama/Biden:

“Coal producers strapped with high costs and debt are headed for extinction under President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

“They will be left to vie for 650 million tons of utility demand annually, compared with the more than 1 billion averaged during coal’s halcyon days at the turn of the century, BB&T Capital Markets Inc. in Richmond, Virginia, said in a report Monday before the formal release of the plan.

“Some were reeling even before the release of Obama’s proposal, which calls for a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 2005 levels, more than the 30 percent proposed a year ago. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. on Monday became the latest producer to seek bankruptcy protection.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-03/obama-s-clean-power-plans-will-kill-high-cost-coal-producers

Obama/Biden can’t take all the credit.

“Coal has seen its share of electricity generation fall to 36 percent from about 50 percent a decade ago, data from the Energy Information Administration show, largely due to competition from cheaper natural gas and to tougher environmental regulations.” (Second link.)