Coal

A Historical Perspective

Even though it had been a source of energy for centuries, coal was first used on a large scale during the Industrial Revolution in England. From the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, the sky was filled with billowing columns of black smoke. Soot covered the towns and cities, and workers breathed the thick coal dust swirling around them. Environmental issues, if they were considered at all, were far less important than the jobs the factories provided. Factory owners had little reason or incentive to control the smoke pouring out of their plants—the environmental and public health effects of pollution were not as well understood as they are today, so government imposed little, if any, regulation on manufacturing.

In the United States early colonists used wood to heat their homes because it was so plentiful. Coal was not as readily available and far more expensive. Before the Civil War (1861–1865), some industries used coal as a source of energy, but its use expanded greatly with the building of railroads across the country. In fact, coal became such a fundamental part of American industrialization that some historians call this era the coal age. As in England, Americans considered the development of industry a source of national pride. Photographs and postcards of the time proudly featured trains and steel mills belching dark smoke into gray skies.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) notes in Annual Energy Review 2007 (June 2008, http://www.eia.doe.gov/aer/pdf/aer.pdf) that by the early twentieth century coal had become the major fuel in the United States, accounting for nearly 75% of the nation’s energy requirements. However, as oil—which was much cleaner— became a favored fuel for heating homes and offices, and gasoline powered the growing number of cars, coal’s dominance declined. By 1949 coal accounted for 37% of the energy consumed. It fell further out of favor in the 1950s and 1960s until, in the early 1970s, coal provided as little as 17% of the nation’s energy. By then it had been overtaken by concerns about pollution, along with the emergence of nuclear power as a promising energy source.

In 1973, however, the oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries made many Americans reconsider. The embargo clearly demonstrated the nation’s heavy reliance on foreign sources of energy and the potentially crippling effect that dependence could have on the U.S. economy. Consequently, the nation revived its interest in domestic coal as a plentiful and economical energy source.

According to the article ‘‘Primary Sources: The President’s Proposed Energy Policy’’ (2002, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html), President Jimmy Carter (1924–) called for an increase in domestic coal production by two-thirds—to about 1 billion short tons (907 billion t) annually by 1985. He proposed a ten-year, $10 billion program to spark that production. He also asked utility companies and other large industries to convert their operations to coal. In 2007 more coal was produced in the United States than any other form of energy: 23.5 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), or 33% of all energy produced. (See Table 1.1 and Figure 1.6 in Chapter 1.) Coal was the third-largest source of energy consumed in the United States in 2007, after petroleum and natural gas. (See Figure 1.7 in Chapter 1.)

What is Coal?

Coal is a black, combustible, mineral solid. It developed over millions of years as plant matter decomposed in an airless space under increased temperature and pressure. Coal beds, sometimes called seams, are found in the earth between beds of sandstone, shale, and limestone and range in thickness from less than an 1 inch (2.5cm) to more than 100 feet (30 m). Approximately 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) of ancient plant material were compressed to create each foot of coal.

Coal is used as a fuel and in the production of coal gas, water gas, many coal-tar compounds, and coke (the solid substance left after coal gas and coal tar have been extracted from coal). When coal is burned, its fossil energy—sunlight converted and stored by plants over millions of years—is released. One short ton (0.9 t) of coal produces 22 million Btu on average, about the same heating value as 22,000 cubic feet (623 cubic m) of natural gas, 160 gallons (606 L) of home heating oil, or a cord of seasoned firewood measuring 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet (1.2 by 1.2 by 2.4 m). (A short ton is 2,000 pounds [907 k].)

Classifications of Coal

There are four basic types of coal. Classifications, or coal ranks, are based on how much carbon, volatile matter, and heating value are contained in the coal:

• Anthracite (hard coal) is the highest-ranked coal. It is hard and jet-black, with a moisture content of less than 15%. It contains approximately 22 million to 28 million Btu per ton, with an ignition temperature of approximately 925^° to 970^° Fahrenheit (496^° to 521^° C). Anthracite, which is used for generating electricity and space heating, is mined mainly in northeastern Pennsylvania. (See Figure 4.1.)
• Bituminous (soft coal) is the most common. It is dense and black, with a moisture content of less than 20% and an ignition range of 700^° to 900^° Fahrenheit (371^° to 482^° C). With a heating value of 19 million to 30 million Btu per ton, bituminous coal is used to generate electricity, for space heating, and to produce coke. It is mined chiefly in the Appalachian and midwestern regions of the United States. (See Figure 4.1.)
• Subbituminous coal (black lignite) is dull black in color and generally contains 20% to 30% moisture. Used for generating electricity and for space heating, it contains 16 million to 24 million Btu per ton. Black lignite is mined primarily in the western United States. (See Figure 4.1.)
• Lignite, the lowest-ranked coal, is brownish-black in color and has a high moisture content. It tends to disintegrate when exposed to weather. Lignite contains about 9 million to 17 million Btu per ton and is used mainly to generate electricity. Most lignite is mined in North Dakota, Montana, Texas, California, and Louisiana. (See Figure 4.1.)

In 2007 domestic mines produced over 1.1 billion short tons (998 million t) of all types of coal. About 93% of it was bituminous (535 million short tons [485 million t]) and subbituminous (531 million short tons [482 million t]) coal. (See Table 4.1.) Lignite accounted for much of the remainder. Very little of the total was anthracite.

Locations of Coal Deposits

Coal is found in about 450,000 square miles (1.2 million sq km), or 13%, of the total land area of the United States. Figure 4.1 shows the coal-bearing areas of the United States. Geologists divide U.S. coalfields into the Appalachian, Interior, and Western regions. The Appalachian region is subdivided into three areas: Northern (Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia), Central (eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and southern West Virginia), and Southern Appalachia (Alabama). The Interior region includes mines in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, western Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Western region is divided into the Northern Great Plains (northern Colorado, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming), the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest (Arizona, southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah), and the Northwest (Alaska and Washington).

Before 1999 most of the nation’s coal was mined east of the Mississippi River. Miners had been digging deeper and deeper into the Appalachian Mountains for years before bulldozers began cutting open the rich coal seams of eastern Montana. In 1965 western mines produced 27.4 million short tons (24.9 million t), only 5% of the national total. By 1999, however, western production had increased more than twentyfold, to 570.8 million short tons (517.8 million t), or 52% of the total. (See Table 4.1.) The amount of coal mined east of the Mississippi that year was 529.6 million short tons (480.4 million t). In 2007 mines west of the Mississippi produced 668.4 million short tons (606.4 million t)—58% of the total—whereas eastern mines produced 477.2 million short tons (432.9 million t).

The growth in coal production in the western states resulted, in part, because of an increased demand for low-sulfur coal, which is concentrated there. Low-sulfur coal burns cleaner and is considered less dangerous to the environment. In addition, the coal is closer to the surface, so it can be extracted by surface mining, which is cheaper and more efficient. Improved rail service has also made it easier to deliver this low-sulfur coal to electric power plants located east of the Mississippi River.

Coal Mining Methods

The method used to mine coal depends on the terrain and the depth of the coal. Before the early 1970s most coal was taken from underground mines. Since then, coal production has shifted to surface mines. (See Table 4.1 and Figure 4.2.)

Underground mining is required when the coal lies more than 200 feet (61 m) below ground. The depth of most underground mines is less than 1,000 feet (305 m), but a few are 2,000 feet (610 m) deep. In underground mines, some coal must be left untouched to form pillars that prevent the mines from caving in.

Figure 4.3 shows three types of underground mines: a shaft mine, a slope mine, and a drift mine. In a shaft mine, elevators take miners and equipment up and down a vertical shaft to the coal deposit. By contrast, the entrance to a slope mine is an incline from the aboveground opening. In a drift mine, the mineshaft runs horizontally from the opening in the hillside. As Figure 4.3 shows, workers and equipment are moved externally up the side of a hill or mountain to the entry.

Surface mines are usually less than 200 feet (61 m) deep and can be developed in flat or hilly terrain. On large plots of relatively flat ground workers use a technique known as area surface mining. Rock and soil that lie above the coal—called overburden or spoil—are loosened by drilling and blasting and then dug away. Another technique, contour surface mining, follows coal deposits along hillsides. (See Figure 4.3.) Open pit mining—a combination of area and contour mining—is used to mine thick, steeply inclined coal deposits.

The growth of surface mining and the closure of non-productive mines led to increases in coal mining productivity through the 1980s and 1990s. (See Figure 4.4.) Because surface mines are easier to work, they average up to three times the productivity of underground mines. According to the EIA, in Annual Energy Review 2007, the productivity for surface mines was 10.2 short tons (9.3 t) of coal per miner hour in 2007, whereas productivity for underground mines was 3.4 short tons (3.1 t) per miner hour. In 2000 the combined average productivity for both mining methods reached an all-time high of 6.9 short tons (6.3 t) per miner hour. In 2007 combined average productivity was 6.3 short tons (5.7 t) per miner hour.

Coal Mining Safety and Health Risks

Mining safety in the United States is overseen by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), which was formed in 1978 after Congress passed the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. The law established mandatory health and safety standards for mines and required that mine operators and miners comply with them. It also provided assistance to states to develop and enforce effective state mine health and safety programs and expanded research and development aimed at preventing accidents and diseases associated with mining occupations.

Throughout its history, coal mining has been a physically challenging and dangerous occupation, with a recognized risk for injury or disease. As early as 1822 the term miner’s asthma was used to describe the breathing difficulties and coughing often experienced by mine workers.

In addition, mine accidents can occur without warning, including cave-ins, fires, underground floods, equipment failures, and gas explosions. (Flammable gases, notably methane, are found naturally in coal mines.) In underground mines these accidents carry the additional risk of trapping miners in the mine without air, water, or food.

Fatalities

The MSHA states in ‘‘Coal Fatalities for 1900 through 2007’’ (2008, http://www.msha.gov/stats/centurystats/coalstats.asp) that a total of 104,655 people were killed in coal mining accidents from 1900 through 2007. In ‘‘Coal Mining Disasters’’ (April 18, 2008, http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/discoal.htm), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) finds that in records dating back to 1839, 13,819 fatalities in the United States have resulted from 616 coal mine disasters; a mine disaster is a mine accident that claims five or more lives. The number of disasters peaked during the period 1901 through 1925, when 297 large accidents occurred. The most deadly event in U.S. history occurred when explosions in the Monongah mines in Monongah, West Virginia, claimed 362 lives in December 1907. The MSHA shows that 1907 was, in fact, the deadliest year on record, with 3,242 fatalities. According to NIOSH, of the twenty-six U.S. disasters that caused one hundred or more fatalities, seventeen of them took place between 1901 and 1925.

With a death toll of 125 and more than 1,100 injured, the deadliest coal mining accident in recent decades was the massive Buffalo Creek flood in southern West Virginia in February 1972. The West Virginia Division of Culture and History notes in Buffalo Creek (2008, http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/buffcreek/bctitle.html) that after several days of heavy rain, a dam burst that was holding mine wastewater in a series of hillside pools. Over 132 million gallons (500 million L) of water then poured out and rushed through the valley below in the form of a black wave that reached 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m) high. The power of the water smashed structures and moved whole houses and railroad cars downstream. Terrified residents ran up nearby hills to get above the water level. Within minutes several communities located along a 17-mile (27.4-km) stretch of Buffalo Creek were devastated, and the town of Saunders was completely destroyed.

Coal mining has dramatically increased its safety record since the early and mid-twentieth century. Tighter regulations, improvements in technology, and preventive programs are credited with lowering—though not eliminating—many of the risks undertaken by miners. NIOSH indicates that from 1981 through August 2007 there were thirteen coal mine disasters that killed five or more people. The worst accident during this period was a mine fire that claimed twenty-seven lives at the Wilberg Mine in Orangeville, Utah, in December 1984. According to the MSHA, in 2005 there were twenty-three fatalities, the fewest fatalities recorded between 1900 and 2007.

The January 2006 mine disaster at the Sago Mine in Tallmansville, West Virginia, was the worst mining disaster in the United States since thirteen miners were killed in 2001 in a mine in Brookwood, Alabama, and the worst in West Virginia since seventy-eight were killed at the Consol No. 9 mine in Farmington in 1968. Sago claimed the lives of twelve miners. One miner survived. The miners were trapped following an explosion of methane gas that may have been triggered by a lightning strike; investigators theorized that a buildup of gas over the holidays might have contributed to the disaster, as the blast occurred shortly after the first shift returned to work on January 2. The explosion disabled the mine’s internal communication system, which interfered with rescue operations. Rescue was also delayed because the air in the mine contained high concentrations of carbon monoxide and methane, which made it unsafe for rescue workers. Of those who perished, one was believed to have been killed by the initial blast, and the others succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

One of the most recent mine disasters was investigated by Congress, and possible criminal charges against the owners of the mine were discussed. On August 6, 2007, six miners were trapped when a portion of the Crandall Canyon Mine collapsed. Crandall Canyon is located about 140 miles (225 km) south of Salt Lake City, Utah. An owner of the mine said a small earthquake collapsed the mine, whereas others believed the recorded seismic activity was due to the tremendous force of the mine collapse. Eleven days into the rescue effort, three rescue workers were killed and seven injured when an additional collapse of the mine occurred. The bodies of the original six trapped miners were never recovered. U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate committees and the U.S. Department of Labor all conducted independent investigations into the disaster and mining practices at Crandall Canyon. Investigations revealed that the mine collapse was likely due to retreat mining, a risky practice in which some coal is removed from the pillars that support the mine roof. These compromised pillars often collapse under the weight of the rock above. By May 2008 there were calls for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the tragedy.

Long-Term Health Risks

Besides the risk of injury or death, coal miners face a wide range of long-term health concerns, including muscle and joint conditions, hearing loss brought on by excessive noise, and respiratory illnesses associated with dust, fumes, and chemical exposure. One serious illness associated with mining is coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease, which results from repeated inhalation of coal dust. However, this risk has been drastically reduced through the use of dust masks and respirators, by covering the walls of mine tunnels and shafts with pulverized white rock to lower the level of the dust, and by spraying water to settle the dust.

Deaths from pneumoconiosis as an underlying cause have decreased dramatically from a peak of about 1,250 deaths in 1972 to about 250 deaths in 2004. (See Figure 4.5.) The age-adjusted death rate from pneumoconiosis was approximately 22 deaths per 1 million people aged fifteen and over in 1972 and dropped to about 3 deaths per 1 million in 2004.

Coal in the Domestic Market

Overall Production and Consumption

In Annual Energy Review 2007, the EIA indicates that the nation consumed 625.3 million short tons (567.3 million t) of coal in 1977. Thirty years later, in 2007, consumption had grown to more than 1.1 billion short tons (998 million t)—nearly twice as much. Increases in consumption were in the electric power sector, as existing power plants switched to coal from more expensive oil and natural gas and many new coal-fired power plants were constructed. Consumption of coal in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors decreased from 1949 to 2007. (See Figure 4.6.)

Coal Consumption by Sector

In the electric power sector, coal is pulverized and burned to heat boilers that produce steam, which drives generators that create electricity. Each ton of coal used to drive a generator produces about 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. In household terms, each pound of coal produces enough electricity to light ten 100-watt lightbulbs for one hour.

In the twenty-first century, electric power companies are by far the largest consumers of coal today. (See Figure 4.6 and Figure 4.7.) They accounted for 93% of domestic coal consumption, or slightly more than 1 billion short tons (907.2 million t), in 2007. According to the EIA, in Annual Energy Review 2007, coal-fired plants produced 2 trillion kWh of electricity, or 49% of U.S. electricity net generation, in 2007. Net generation refers to the power available to the system—it does not include power used at the generating plant, but it does include power that may be lost during transmission and distribution.

The industrial sector was the second-largest consumer of coal in 2007, accounting for 7% of coal use, or 79.2 million short tons (71.9 million t). (See Figure 4.6 and Figure 4.7.) Coal is used in many industrial applications, including the chemical, cement, paper, synthetic fuels, metals, and food-processing industries.

Coal was once a significant fuel source in the residential and commercial sectors. (See Figure 4.6.) In 1949 these sectors together used 116.5 million short tons (105.7 million t) of coal, or 24% of all coal consumption. After the 1940s, however, coal was replaced by oil, natural gas, and electricity, which are cleaner and more convenient. The EIA notes that by 1970 only 16.1 million short tons (14.6 million t) of coal were used in the residential and commercial sectors. Since then, residential and commercial coal use has continued to decline, falling to 3.3 million short tons (3 million t) in 2007, or far less than 1% of total coal use.

The Price of Coal

In 2007 the average price of a short ton of coal was $21.23 in real dollars (i.e., adjusted for inflation), which was slightly higher than the all-time low of $16.78 in 2000 and 2003, and only 42% of the all-time high of $50.92 per short ton in real dollars in 1975. (See Table 4.2.) On a per-Btu basis, coal remains the least expensive fossil fuel. According to the EIA, in Annual Energy Review 2007, in 2007 the average cost of coal was $1.62 per million Btu, compared to $9.92 per million Btu for natural gas and $23.92 per million Btu for retail electricity.

Coal and the Environment

Problems

In 1306 King Edward I (1239–1307) of England so objected to the noxious smoke from London’s coal-burning fires that he banned the use of coal by everyone except blacksmiths. Since then, the potential for pollution has multiplied exponentially, given the amount of fossil fuels, such as coal, that are burned worldwide.

The Greenhouse Effect. Coal-fired electric power plants emit gases that are considered harmful to the environment. Scientists have learned that burning huge quantities of fossil fuels causes a greenhouse effect, in which gases released from the fuels trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, raising temperatures. Manav Tanneeru reports in ‘‘Global Warming: A Natural Cycle or Human Result?’’ (CNN.com, April 8, 2008) that according to the National Research Council, the earth has warmed about 1^° Fahrenheit (0.6^° C) in the past one hundred years. Some of the effects of the added heat are immediate, whereas others happen over long periods of time.

Much of the gas that causes the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide. In 2006 the combustion of coal in the United States produced 2.1 billion metric tons (2.3 million short tons) of carbon dioxide, or 36% of the total carbon dioxide emissions from all fossil fuels used in the United States. (See Figure 4.8.)

Acid Rain. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that contains a greater-than-normal amount of acid. In many parts of the world it has caused significant damage to forests and lakes.

Even nonpolluted rain is slightly acidic: rainwater combines with the carbon dioxide normally found in the air to produce a weak acid called carbonic acid. However, pollutants in the air can increase the acidity of rain and other forms of precipitation, such as snow and fog. Chemicals such as oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, which are released during the combustion of fossil fuels, create highly acidic precipitation. The amount of these oxides in the air is directly related to the amount and content of automobile exhaust and industrial and power plant emissions.

Community Health Issues. Emissions from coal-fired power plants include mercury, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides. Mercury can reach humans when they eat fish contaminated by mercury that, after being emitted into the air, settles in lakes and streams. Mercury can cause birth defects in newborns exposed to it in the womb. Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides contribute to air pollution, which is known to cause respiratory impairments. (See Table 4.3.)

Solutions

The Clean Coal Technology Program. In 1984 Congress established the Clean Coal Technology program, which directed the U.S. Department of Energy to administer projects that would demonstrate that coal could be used in environmentally and economically efficient ways. The cost of the projects was to be shared by industry and government.

Clean Coal Technology and the Clean Air Act. The stated goal of both Congress and the Department of Energy has been to develop cost-effective ways to burn coal more cleanly, both to control acid rain and air pollution and to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported fuels. One strategy is a slow, phased-in approach that allows utility companies and states to reduce their emissions in stages.

The burning of coal can be made cleaner by using physical or chemical methods. Scrubbers, a common physical method used to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, filter coal emissions by spraying a lime or calcium compound and water across the emission stream before it leaves the smoke-stack. The sulfur dioxide bonds to the spray and settles as a mudlike substance that can be pumped out for disposal. However, scrubbers are expensive to operate, so mechanical and fabric particulate collectors are the most common emissions cleaners. Even though they are cheaper to operate than scrubbers, they are less effective. Some utilities use cooling towers to reduce the heat in emissions before they are released into the atmosphere and to reduce some pollutants. Chemical cleaning, a relatively new technology, uses biological or chemical agents to clean emissions.

The Clean Air Act of 1990 placed restrictions on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions; the restrictions first took effect in 1995 and were tightened in 2000. Each round of regulation requires utilities to find lower-sulfur coal or to install cleaner technology, such as scrubbers. The first Clean Air Act, passed in 1970, sought to change air-quality standards at new generating stations while exempting existing coal-fired plants. Under the 1990 act, older plants are also bound by the 1970 regulations. In addition, plants with coal-fired boilers must be built to reduce sulfur emissions by 70% to 90%. When new plants that burn high-sulfur coal are built, about 30% of their construction costs are spent on pollution control equipment. Up to 5% of the plants’ power output is used to operate this equipment. Research is under way to develop technology to lower these costs.

When President George W. Bush (1946–) took office in 2001, he promised to ease the regulations for older coal-burning plants to keep them up and running. His energy policy would have allowed the plants to modify their equipment and structures without adding pollution control measures, as long as they met certain conditions. Fifteen state governments and environmental and public health groups brought suit to stop this interpretation of the Clean Air Act. In April 2006 the Bush policy was rejected by the courts. In his 2008 State of the Union address, President Bush (January 28, 2008, http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2008/initiatives/energy.html) urged the use of clean coal technology for generating electricity and the funding of new technologies that can produce power from coal with less carbon dioxide emissions.

The Clean Air Interstate Rule and the Clean Air Mercury Rule. In March 2005 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). It focused primarily on twenty-eight eastern states and the District of Columbia, where sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions contributed significantly to fine particle and ozone pollution. Under the regulations, coal-burning power plants would have to install advanced pollution-control technologies, use coal that burned cleaner, or make other changes to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that travel across state borders. The EPA expected the regulation, which would go into effect in 2009 and be fully implemented between 2020 and 2025, would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 70% and nitrogen oxide emissions by 60% from 2003 levels. However, the state of North Carolina and some companies that produce electric power had opposed the rule and filed suit, contending that the EPA had overstepped its authority. In July 2008 a federal appeals court struck down CAIR, agreeing with the plaintiffs and stating, in addition, that it had found several flaws in the regulation.

In March 2005 the EPA also announced the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). The EPA expected mercury emissions from electric power plants to be reduced by nearly 70% from 1999 levels when the rule was fully implemented. The state of New Jersey challenged the legality of the rule because its provisions were not stringent enough to meet the standards of the Clean Air Act. In February 2008 a federal appeals court struck down CAMR, agreeing that the EPA failed to fulfill its obligations under the Clean Air Act by allowing utilities to make mercury cuts from some coal-fired units and not others. In March 2008 the EPA asked the court to reexamine its decision. In May 2008 the court refused.

Carbon Dioxide Capture. In ‘‘Germany Leads ‘Clean Coal’ Pilot’’ (BBC News, September 3, 2008), Roger Harrabin reports that in September 2008 the first coal-fired plant that captures and stores its own carbon dioxide emissions began operations in northern Germany. The Schwarze Pump power station is a pilot project that will help determine whether the new technology used in the plant is economically and practically feasible. The European Union expects to build ten to twelve full-scale power plants using the clean coal technology within the next few years if the pilot experiment is successful.

Coal Exports

Since 1950 the United States has produced more coal than it has consumed, allowing it to become a significant exporter. However, exports of this energy source have declined dramatically since 1991, when the United States exported 109 million short tons (98.9 million t) of coal. (See Table 4.4.) In 2007 the U.S. exported 59.2 million short tons (53.7 million t).

The EIA reports in Annual Energy Review 2007 that coal made up 28% of all U.S. energy exports in 2007. The countries that bought the most U.S. coal from the United States were Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil, respectively. (See Table 4.4.)

International Coal Production and Consumption

In Annual Energy Review 2007, the EIA reports that slightly more than 6.8 billion short tons (6.1 billion t) of coal were produced worldwide in 2006, and accounted for 122.5 quadrillion Btu (27%) of the world energy production in 2005. (See Table 1.4 in Chapter 1.) In 2006 China produced the most coal—more than 2.6 billion short tons (2.4 billion t)—followed by the United States, which mined almost 1.2 billion short tons (1.1 billion t). (See Figure 4.9.) Other major coal producers in order of amount produced included India, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Germany, and Indonesia.

The world consumption of coal in 2006 totaled nearly 6.8 billion short tons (6.2 billion t). China consumed the most, using nearly 2.6 billion short tons (2.4 billion t), followed by the United States, which used slightly more than 1.1 billion (997.9 million t) short tons. (See Figure 4.10.) Other major consumers in order of amount consumed included India, Germany, Russia, Japan, and South Africa.

Future Trends in the Coal Industry

In Annual Energy Outlook 2008 (June 2008, http:// www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/0383(2008).pdf), the EIA provides forecasts for domestic coal production. The Annual Energy Outlook 2008 reference case represents the EIA’s updated projections in 2008 after the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was passed relating to the increased production of biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate.

Coal production in the United States is expected to increase to 1.2 billion short tons (1.1 billion t) by 2015, to 1.4 billion short tons (1.3 billion t) by 2025, and to 1.5 billion short tons (1.4 billion t) by 2030. (See Table 4.5.) Domestic coal consumption is projected to surpass coal production in 2015, 2025, and 2030, with the gap widening at each benchmark. Electric power generation is expected to use most of the coal produced in 2015 (approximately 1.1 billion short tons [997.9 million t]), 2025 (approximately 1.3 billion short tons [1.2 billion t]), and 2030 (1.4 billion short tons [1.3 billion t]). The projections assume the provisions of the Clean Air Act are being enforced.

Coal minemouth prices (the price of coal at the mouth of the mine before transportation and other costs are added) are projected to generally decrease during the projection period from $24.63 per short ton in 2006 to $23.38 in 2015, to $22.75 in 2025, and then rise slightly to $23.32 in 2030. (See Table 4.5.)

The EIA also predicts that U.S. coal exports—about 4% of the coal mined in 2006—will decline to only 2% of coal mined by 2030. (See Table 4.5.) All projections expect the United States to become a net importer of coal after 2015.