The fifth largest US coal mining company, Murray Energy, filed for bankruptcy protection. Based in Eastern Ohio, Murray is among 40 coal producers that have filed under Chapter 11 in this decade and the eighth to file over the past year. This is due largely to the closing of coal-fired power plants given substantially less expensive and cleaner natural gas, wind and solar as power sources. Coal now produces less than one quarter of US electricity. ColumbiaDispatch, CNBC