答案是：参参考考答答案案：： This month, the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the country’s largest public power utility, voted to shut eight coal- powered plants in Alabama and Kentucky and partly replace them with gas-fired power. Since 2010,more than150 coal plants have been closed or scheduled for retirement.

答案是：参参考考答答案案：： But Rocky Mountain Power, the utility that operates the plant, has determined that it would be too expensive to retrofit the aging plant to meet new federal standards on mercury emissions. The plant is scheduled to be shut by April 2015.

答案是：参参考考答答案案：： “We had been working for the better part of three years, testing compliance strategies,” said David Eskelsen, a spokesman for the utility. “None of the ones we investigated really would produce the results that would meet the requirements.” For the last several years, coal plants have been shutting down across the country, driven by tougher environmental regulations, flattening electricity demand and a move by utilities toward natural gas.

答案是：参参考考答答案案：： David Palacios’s father, Pete, who worked in the mines for 43 years, has seen coal roar and fade here. Now 86, his eyes grew cloudy as he recalled his first mining job. He was12, and earned $1 a day. “I’m retired, so I’ll be fine. But these young guys?” Pete Palacios said, his voice trailing off.

答案是：参参考考答答案案：： But recently, fear has settled in. The state’s oldest coal-fired power plant, tucked(不译) among the canyons near town, is set to close, a result of new, stricter federal pollution regulations. As energy companies tack away from coal, toward cleaner, cheaper natural gas, people here have grown increasingly afraid that their community may soon slip away. Dozens of workers at the facility here, the Carbon Power Plant, have learned that they must retire early or seek other jobs. Local trucking and equipment outfits are preparing to take business elsewhere.