Steel requires coal to smelt it. There’s no other way to MAKE steel. The carbon from the coal is needed.
High quality steel requires high quality coal.
Softer bituminous coal such as found in china produces low quality steel.
Hard anthracite coal produces the best quality steel.
Hard anthracite such as found in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Hard anthracite that fueled steel towns like Bethlehem steel.
Hard anthracite that fueled the US auto industries.
Closing the PA coal collaosed US steel and US auto and US infrastructure. The economy declined. bridges crumbled. Ships died early.
This was NAFTA. This was Clinton.