A “Closed for Business” sign now hangs over the New Horizon coal mine, which leaves only seven coal mines operating in the state employing 995 people.

If the Denver Post is correct:

That’s down from 2,118 jobs in 2003. Colorado mines produced 12.8 million tons of coal in 2016, down from 18.7 million in 2015, continuing a 67 percent decrease since 2004.

According to Bruce Finley:

Coal production around Colorado has dwindled to record low levels, due in part to competition from wind power and other renewable sources of energy that can be cheaper and cleaner.

That’s not exactly how it happened at all. The mine was forced to close after the state ganged up with WildEarth Guardians to regulate it out of business in a down market.

The utility cited the “significant costs to install additional emissions controls” at both locations under the “increasingly stringent regional haze rule, the state and federal regulatory environment for coal-based generation and current and forecasted market conditions.”

This is exactly why we harp on overregulation by the government. Too often it’s used to put one industry out of business in favor of another that happens to receive huge government subsidies, like wind and solar and other renewable energy schemes.

Which is exactly what the Obama administration did. Now, we see the results of that effort — 995 jobs.