The sale of two coal-burning mainstays of Massachusetts’ power generation fleet has rightly contributed to the concerns about the growing use and cost of natural gas and the state’s role as a beacon for encouraging clean energy.

Predictably, environmentalists lauded the sale of Brayton Point Station in Somerset and the Salem Harbor Station as the end of coal use in New England. Such talk of coal’s complete demise is unfortunate and potentially damaging to the stability of the region’s energy market.