U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Release Date: September 9, 2014 .
I doubt they are blowing hot air . I bet they have a pretty good handle on the subject .
http://www.eia.gov/...
International Energy Outlook 2014
Report Number: DOE/EIA-0484(2014)
World coal consumption rises at an average rate of 1.3 percent per year, from 147 quadrillion Btu in 2010 to 180 quadrillion Btu in 2020 and 220 quadrillion Btu in 2040
World coal production parallels demand, increasing from 8.0 billion tons in 2010 to 11.5 billion tons in 2040
International coal trade grows by 65 percent in the Reference case, from 24.0 quadrillion Btu in 2010 to 39.6 quadrillion Btu in 2040.
In China
Coal-fired power capacity expands by almost 530 gigawatts from 2010 to 2040, ...
In response to the transportation bottlenecks, China's 12th Five-Year Plan includes significant investment in rail and transmission expansions. The plan calls for rail capacity able to transport 2.9 billion tons of coal per year by 2015, compared with the 2.5 billion tons of coal transported by rail in 2011
The coal industry isn't in a death spiral . It is growing .
Read the whole report if you want to see what is really going on .