Who is to blame? Nostalgia, Partisanship, and the death of coal

ABSTRACT The U.S. energy sector has undergone significant changes in the last few decades with three converging trends – the implosion of the coal industry, the marked increase in domestically produced oil and gas, and the increasing viability of renewables. The implosion of coal has proven to be a contentious political issue, with conservative discourse placing the blame for the industry’s poor fortunes on the administration of former President Obama and federal environmental regulations. Coal occupies a unique space in the cultural imaginaries of the Rural U.S., with significant nostalgia for the industry despite its deleterious legacy. Our study is informed by the concept of community economic identity and recent research on right-wing populism. Using survey data from western Colorado collected in 2019, we evaluate how partisanship and nostalgia are associated with mischaracterizations of the causes of the coal industry’s decline. Republicans are more likely to state that former President Obama and federal environmental regulations are the primary cause of coal’s decline and less likely to state that alternative fuels are the cause. Nostalgia is also associated with naming President Obama and federal environmental regulations. Our results imply that the causes of coal’s collapse may not be well understood.