My state has many ghost/zombie towns that have all but died out because the local coal mines closed. Speaking from experience, clinging to the past is not going to do them any good because what’s coming is coming one way or another. And it doesn’t even have to be because coal is displaced by renewables.

For better or worse (cough worse cough), coal is still huge in my state, but when there’s a disruption such as the mining company going “bankrupt”, the mine becoming unprofitable, mining permit revoked, etc, the communities that rely on it often fall into squalor because that’s their only livelihood.

It’s truly sad to see, but it’s an obvious danger for any community to rely on one finite industry for sustenance.