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“If it is not financial incentives, what else might people care about? The answer is something we know in our guts: status, dignity, social connections.”

While Donald Trump remains regionally popular, miners no longer seem to believe the president’s promise that he will revive the U.S. coal industry.

“If the state and PacifiCorp commit to an aggressive program to retrain the utility’s workers, the conversion to renewable energy will ultimately help the state remain competitive.”

“Adapting won’t be an easy task. It requires planning, investment and education for existing workers. And even then, the hardship and heartbreak will be real.”

“From the Rocky Mountains to the Rhineland and Australia’s Great Dividing Range, the great tide of the coal industry is receding.”

With proper resources and visionary leadership, tribal communities in northern Arizona can reinvent their economies.

“Our leaders should put more investment into developing economic activity using the area’s natural beauty.… We just need to start looking for opportunities outside the coal industry.”

Battery-storage technology, modernized state energy policies and fast-falling prices present new opportunities. The Moapa Band of Paiute are setting the pace.

“We can’t allow the communities that have been dependent on coal to die along with it.”

The coal-plant town of Centralia is changing with the help of a $55 million state transition fund. Montana would do well to consider a similar policy model, one advocate says.