![Empty train cars along a mountain road](https://old.appalachianvoices.org/images/uploads/2020/08/carbo_empty_coal_cars-150x150.jpg)
Even before the pandemic, a growing number of coal companies were declaring bankruptcy — and now the decades-long decline of coal is in a nosedive. This will leave already-shortchanged coalfield communities even less money to deal with decades of damage to people’s health and the environment.