Coal decline hits fuel's Western stronghold

Yet for Mike Cooley, the days of drilling explosives into the ground to blast the fuel from the earth are over, long before he ever expected. The 41-year-old thought his job as a "powderman" at the Decker strip mine would take him into retirement.

Then, just weeks ago, he became one of several hundred mine workers to lose their jobs in the past year in the region, as a dispute over West Coast ports hobbles the industry's ability to reach booming markets in Asia.