Reuters: U.S. power plants will burn 2.6 percent less coal in 2009 than they did last year as the recession trims electricity generation and plants turn to cheaper natural gas, the country’s top energy forecaster said on Tuesday. Power plants will burn about 1,014.9 million tons of coal in 2009, down from 1,041.6 million tons burned in 2008, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly short-term outlook. It was the second month running that the EIA pushed down its forecast …