In our opinion: Utah should focus on struggling counties as demand for coal declines

When Carbon County officials recently proposed tax increases of more than 700 percent, residents were shocked by what looked like audacious over-reach, but it's really a case of a community trying to come to grips with an unfavorable economic reality. The county is named for its abundant deposits of coal, the mining of which has produced enough revenue for public coffers to cover a lot of local government expenses, but that was in the past.Now, the county is seeing sharp and steady drops in coal