Trump and the Republican-controlled congress have little time to roll back the Obama administration's many regulatory initiatives aimed at reining in climate change, he told CNN.

Instead Congress would take aim at more modest recent rules that limit coal mining near waterways, he reportedly said.

Overall the decline in US coal stakes should continue as the industry grapples with a legacy of unfavourable regulation and competition from other energy sources, according to Book.

"The problem is that standing back on coal, for example, can ease some of the pain, but it can't cure the sickness," he said.

"Changes can happen tomorrow, but the market's a slow ship to turn," he said.