<P> Due to emergence of shale gas, coal consumption declined from 2009 . In the first quarter of 2012, the use of coal for electricity generation declined substantially more, 21% from 2011 levels . According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 27 gigawatts of capacity from coal - fired generators is to be retired from 175 coal - fired power plants between 2012 and 2016 . Natural gas showed a corresponding increase, increasing by a third over 2011 . Coal's share of electricity generation dropped to just over 36% . Coal use continues to decline rapidly through November 2015 with its share around 33.6% . </P> <P> The coal plants are mostly base - load plants . </P> <P> As of July 7 2011, utility companies will shut down and retire aging coal - fired power plants following the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) announcement of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAP). The extent of shutdowns and reduction in utilization will depend on factors such as future price of natural gas and cost of installation of pollution control equipment; however, as of 2013, the future of coal - fired power plants in the United States did not appear promising . Recent estimates gauge that an additional 40 gigawatts (GW) of coal - fired capacity will retire by 2020 (in addition to the nearly 20GW that have retired as of 2014). This is driven most strongly by inexpensive natural gas competing with coal, and EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which require significant reductions in emissions of mercury, acid gases, and toxic metals, scheduled to take effect in April 2015 . Over 13 GW of coal power plants built between 1950 - 70 were retired in 2015, averaging 133 MW per plant . In Texas, the price drop of natural gas has reduced the capacity factor in 7 of the state's coal plants (max . output 8 GW), and they contribute about a quarter of the state's electricity . </P> <P> The cost of transporting coal may be around $20 for trains, or $5 - 6 for barge and truck . US Government subsidies for coal production are around $8 / tonne for the Powder River Basin . </P>

Total number of coal fired power plants in the us