"Virginia, Coal Country for Centuries, Now Embraces Carbon Regulations"

"The state has been moving away from coal-fired electricity for the past decade, and the effects of climate change already has its attention."

"Nestled on the eastern edge of Appalachian coal country, with a 267-year history of mining its reserves, Virginia seems an unlikely candidate to become one of the country's biggest success stories in adapting to the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan.

But when the agency finalizes its rules this summer, Virginia will not be among the states fighting for it to be overturned. Instead, it is already well on its way to complying. The state has been moving away from coal-fired electricity for the past decade, and the effects of climate change—particularly along the Atlantic coast—already has its attention.

Opposition to following the EPA's mandate has been 'relatively muted,' said Walton Shepherd, a policy expert on energy and carbon pollution standards at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'It isn't the chorus that you would expect, for a lot of reasons specific to Virginia,' he said. 'The main one is coal's long-term downward trajectory. From a sheer emissions standpoint, Virginia was already on this path.'"

Katherine Bagley reports for InsideClimate News June 16, 2015, as part of the series, "Coal's Long Goodbye: Dispatches From the War on Carbon."