What coal country needs is not a sacrifice of the national economy, but a new focus and perhaps a new name: gas country. The Trump administration can help coal country by fast-tracking permits for pipelines and otherwise facilitating the already-in-progress transition to natural gas extraction. That has already begun without any government interference, such that Appalachia now accounts for more than a quarter of the nation’s natural gas supply and is expected to account for 40 percent in coming decades.
