Now that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes has ruled the city of Detroit is eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, city officials are proceeding with a "plan of adjustment" to slash $18 billion in debt.

Although Kevyn Orr, the state-appointed emergency manager, doesn't foresee a sale of city assets, he hasn't ruled it out, either. Before Chapter 9, Orr floated the idea of selling Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department (WSD) to contend with municipal debt.

The Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute (UI) suggests a radical downsizing may be required to return Detroit to prosperity.

"Taking entire communities off the grid would present a huge engineering challenge, the likes of which we've never seen in the U.S.," says Erika Poethig, UI director of urban policy initiatives.

EPA’s ‘War on Coal’

Last fall, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed standards that would limit carbon-dioxide emissions in new powerplants to 1,100 lb per megawatt hour. The rub: The most efficient coal-fired plants emit CO2 at a rate of about 1,800 lb per megawatt hour.

In October, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and power, indicated that the cleanest coal-fired technology available can't meet the standard. EPA's response: Industry will need to prod commercialization of capture and sequestration technologies.

"Coal's best days may be behind it," says Basu. "When the time comes, its decline will be rapid."