State needs to brace for life after coal

Dear Editor,
Eventually we will either run out of coal and petroleum or customers for those raw materials. In either case it would be prudent to make a plan to replace that source of income.  
Failing that, it would be prudent to make a plan to prepare the citizens to begin paying substantially more in taxes or receiving remarkably less in state provided services.  
Even if we somehow manage to survive Trump there will remain the challenge of addressing climate change. Even if we ignore these changes, they will not go away. The threat of dire consequences will grow with the passage of time.  
We will have to be the leader in this effort since everyone else seems to be preoccupied with either politics or football. Our forward thinking politicians should, at the very minimum, appoint a blue ribbon panel to address the problem and regularly report their progress to the people of Wyoming. We can’t make decent decisions without decent and timely information. 
—Jerry Baird