For more than a century, coal mines across the country’s heartland fueled a growing nation and created thousands of jobs. But as the energy world shifts to cleaner sources of power, helping the once-booming coal country adapt to a changing world is shaping up to be one of the Democrats’ biggest challenges. POLITICO’s Zack Colman, on how Democrats are threading the line between promoting the energy transition while looking after coal communities. Zack Colman is an energy reporter for POLITICO. Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO and host of POLITICO Energy. Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer. Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio.