Australia still mines a lot of coal (world’s biggest exporter), and I get very upset when I hear conservative politicians talking up the benefits of coal, how coal will be around for a long time, etc. What they are doing is keeping business-as-usual running until the day the mines close and the owners walk away from the suddenly-derelict town. There is no orderly transition planned, because they are doing everything they can to not mention a transition.
Compare and contrast with the Ruhr valley in Germany, where the coal industry wound down and the region didn’t suffer; market forces didn’t achieve that.
