Coal-producing counties across the U.S. are failing to account for the harm inflicted on their finances by the ongoing decline of the fuel. That decline, prompted mostly by market competition from cheaper gas and renewable energy, stands to get worse if the federal government passes a significant policy to combat climate change and restrict carbon emissions.

But counties in coal-reliant Appalachia and in the Powder River Basin out west are failing to communicate that risk when they issue municipal bonds to pay for everything from schools, highways, hospitals, sewer systems, and waste disposal facilities.