washington u.s. coal industry doubt donald trump fulfill promise make ail industry great country awash dirt-cheap natural gas compete fuel small sub-section coal sector mine metallurgical coal variety use steel makers instead power plant gear trump-inspired boom republican president-elect promise spend surge roads bridge tunnel take office jan. 20 push upgrade america infrastructure support lead democrats could jolt demand metallurgical coal american steel mill price meet coal call already rise recent months low supply china best news appalachia whole 10 years say jason bostic vice president west virginia coal association refer trump infrastructure agenda suddenly little bite hope here corsa coal corp producer meet coal base pennsylvania already encourage china-driven price spike trump victory believe u.s. politics go way thing get excite potential infrastructure spend say george dethlefsen corsa chief executive things energy- steel-intensive good business company plan boost production meet coal 70 percent 2017 around 1.2 million short tons meantime put mine six-day-a-week schedule four days look load coal midnight shift normally reserve maintenance arch coal inc produce meet steam coal use power plant say also optimistic trump particularly promise roll back regulations representatives steam coal industry say regulation reversals may overcome main problem plentiful cheap natural gas follow decade-long hydraulic fracture drill boom national production figure meet coal unavailable since government break data total u.s. coal production fall low level since 1986 cost industry thousands job low natural gas price president barack obama emissions water regulations take toll meet coal price however reflect coal sector major sign life year rise 270 metric ton month low 70 ton february drive part china reduce output corsa arch among small number u.s. meet coal producers publicly trade others small privately own alpha natural resources emerge bankruptcy july decline comment trump transition team weigh infrastructure bank make investments project part economic focus also include revamp tax regulation trump adviser say week democrats include senate democratic leader chuck schumer house minority leader nancy pelosi indicate hope work quickly trump infrastructure whether succeed far certain many republicans oppose spend bill ramaco private company announce september open two meet coal mine west virginia virginia next year thank 90 million private equity investments come global meet coal price swing upward randy atkins chairman chief executive ramaco say add new mine possible trump u.s. infrastructure push succeed would depend whether additional investors flock fund bank financial institutions sensitive recent bankruptcies major coal company include arch peabody energy corp weak financial condition others atkins say jim truman director global metallurgical coal market research group wood mackenzie say specialize workers would require underground electricians could also hard find give coal downturn since 2008. phil smith spokesman unite mine workers america say key u.s. meet coal industry outlook whether new infrastructure rely american-made steel coal trump promise import coal import steel make foreign coal make difference american miners smith say trump make coal great least company think