Re: can do without thermal but no met coal We can do without thermal coal but not without met. Met is the necessary ingredient of making steel; that is why the EPA has excluded Met coal from its enviromental regulations which apply only to thermal coal. And part of the price collapse of the met coal is that most coal companies shifted production to met coal in order to escape the EPA regulations thus flooding the market with met coal. But if the steel demand rebounds, met coal will do well. The best days of met coal are ahead of us, that is why I have invested only in met coal that there no substitute for making steel. The only market open for thermal coal is the seaborne but US needs to build shipping infrastructure and this will take some time.