"Stockpiles of coal are growing to historically high levels at the nation’s power plants.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday 197 million tons of coal were being stored at the end of 2015, the highest year-end level in at least 25 years.

Government analysts attributed the spike to both a decline in coal demand due to an unseasonably warm winter and a larger economic shift away from coal as a power source.

Cheap natural gas and steady growth in wind and solar farms have driven down the price of electricity in many U.S. wholesale markets. And with increasing environmental regulation on power plant emissions, many electricity companies have pulled back on coal-fired generation.

The amount of coal capacity on the U.S. power grid fell 10 percent between 2010 and 2015. according to EIA."

James Osborne reports for FuelFix March 21, 2016. [2]