The Routt County mine in Colorado produced 6.66 million tons last year, down 8% from the previous year’s total of 7.24Mt, which was down more marginally from 7.75Mt in 2011.

Peabody spokeswoman Charlene Murdock put the latest fall down to decreasing demand due to constrained rail service and moderate temperatures.

Industry lobbyists blame the Obama government for coal’s wider decline across the state, with Colorado Mining Association president Stuart Sanderson attributing the reduced demand for coal on new US Environmental Protection Agency rules aimed at curtailing energy companies’ coal use.

Colorado’s coal production of 22.98Mt was a 3.4% fall from last year.

“The government is playing a major role in manipulating energy markets, and I think that is wrong,” Sanderson told Steamboat Today.

He was more bullish on US coal in the long-term, however, saying coal global demand by 2030 was expected to rise by 49%.

“The developing world wants what we have, and that’s access to affordable energy,” he said.

Across the US, the story is not so bad. The US Energy Information Administration reported its coal production was flat compared to 2013 at 996.6Mt.

It was a different world in 2012 when Peabody bet long-term by committing to the $US200million mine portal that will allow the company to day mine an estimated 110Mt.

The investment was secured by 40Mt in long-term coal supply agreements, including one 16-year agreement to provide coal to the nearby Xcel Energy-operated Hayden station power plant.

At that point, full-scale production at Sage Creek was expected to start in 2015, but today Peabody is more circumspect.

“The Sage Creek reserves offer flexibility for Twentymile to meet future customer needs, and development will continue to be evaluated as demand warrants,” Murdock said.

“At this point, Twentymile is advancing into the Wolf Creek extension, which provides a sufficient resource base to meet current demand.”