The environmental standards I believe you are referring to are not the real problem... natural gas is already more economical, even before you count in the new standards which natural gas meets WITHOUT any changes.
Coal was always going to die. It cannot economically compete unless you drop all environmental regs... and even then, it is a cheaper, and less efficient, option.
This was coming from an engineer whose livelihood depends on coal. His hope is that eventually the government will raise the standards on fracking so that coal can compete again before it is killed in the marketplace.