of electricity in Kentucky was generated by a coal-based power plant; 7 percent of electricity came from a natural gas-powered plant. "More coal-fired power plants are expected to close in the next several years," Daily Energy Insider wrote. The federal government proposed a new rule for regulating coal mining that would attempt to reconcile environmental protection with the reality that the U.S. needs coal for energy. The rule is controlled by a federal agency called the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). The rule is called the Stream Protection Rule (SPR). The Stream Protection Rule was proposed on July 16, 2015. The regulation would protect approximately 6,500 miles of streams across the United States for 2015. According to the Courier-Journal, the SPR has downsides: it could put "tens of thousands" of coal miners out of a job and increase the cost of electricity for Kentucky consumers. In Kentucky, both Democratic and Republican politicians have been critical of the regulation. The Republican governor and Democratic attorney general are both pushing back at the federal government against the rule. The text of the Stream Protection Rule is 2,300 pages in length. Differences between Western and Eastern Coalfields Kentucky's two major coal fields are separated by around 180 miles. The Western Coal Fields are part of the Illinois Basin, which extends into Illinois and Indiana, while the Eastern Mountain Coal Fields is part of the Appalachian coal basin which extends from Pennsylvania to Alabama. Bituminous coal deposits in the eastern coal field are lower in sulfur content, averaging between 1 and 2 percent by weight. Coal deposits from the western part of the state are slightly lower in heat content but higher in sulfur, averaging between 3 and 4 percent sulfur. Concerns over acid rain have meant that Eastern coal has become preferable to Western coal. Coal mining in Kentucky politics Both Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates in the 2011 gubernatorial election expressed their desire to maintain Kentucky coal. All three Republican primary candidates, David Williams, Bobbie Holsclaw, Phil Moffett, stated that they supported not only the Kentucky coal industry but also the practice of mountaintop removal. On the other side, incumbent Steve Beshear was outspoken in his criticism of federal intervention in Kentucky's coal industry, even joining the Kentucky Coal Association in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over control of mining permits. Beshear's support of