ShareThisCoal an unseen presence in everyday life
Coal, which previous generations used to fuel their furnaces, is no longer such an intimate part of most Americans' everyday experience. But it still figures in many Americans' everyday life.
Nearly half of the nation's electricity is produced by burning so-called steam, or thermal, coal. In another sector of the economy, metallurgical coal is heated to produce coke, which is used as a fuel in steelmaking furnaces.
In a report released this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that in 2009, the country produced about 1,073 million tons of coal, of which 59.1 million tons were exported, and consumed about 1,000 million tons, of which 22.6 million tons were imported.
Because of the global economic downturn, production was 99.1 million tons less than its 2008 level. Consumption also fell by 120.1 million tons -- the electric power sector alone consumed 104 million tons less as 2009's unusually warm winter and moderate summer led to reduced electricity usage.
In January 1985, the first period for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics has figures available, some 170,500 people were employed in coal mining. For the month just ended, the Bureau's figures preliminarily show about 80,000 workers in the field. The figures do not include administrative personnel and those involved in post-mining aspects of the industry, such as shipping.
Last year's economic downturn hit Pennsylvania's workers especially hard, as the state's production sunk to its lowest level in more than 100 years: 58.1 million tons.
Leading producer Consol Energy temporarily idled production at its Buchanan mine in southwestern Virginia, and its Blacksville No. 2 mine near Morgantown, W.Va. It also ordered a long-term shutdown of its Eighty-Four mine in Washington County. In each case, production was reduced by more than 1 million tons, said vice president and chief operating officer Nicholas J. DeIuliis.
With the economy slowly but surely strengthening, DeIuliis said, the metallurgical side of Consol's business is now extremely strong, driven by steelmaking demand in countries such as China, Korea and Japan. Thermal coal, while not as strong, is still stronger than it was this time last year.
"Things are looking up from a demand perspective," he said. "The big uncertainty at this point is regulatory."
The sheer abundance of coal available makes "going away" improbable. The EIA estimates U.S. coal reserves at 488 billion tons. Because of legal restrictions, only 261 billion tons are recoverable. But that is still enough for industry spokesmen to describe the United States as "the Saudi Arabia of coal," and to speak of having a 100-year, or even a 200-year, supply.
Fred Freme, the EIA coal industry statistician who authored Monday's report, affirmed that the United States has 28.4 percent of the world's reserves of coals, but said that didn't make it a Saudi Arabia.
As for the 100- to 200-year supply, he said: "What that is implying is that we have a constant level of consumption. We have to maintain that level of consumption for it to last that long. "That's not necessarily a good way to look at things."
Other than last year, when the global recession curtailed demand, consumption has grown year over year, he said.
Post-recession, that pattern is likely to continue, unless and until Congress develops a regulatory scheme that would make coal more expensive to produce and to use -- a consummation devoutly wished by industry opponents.
Luke Popovich, vice president of the National Mining Association, said some of the industry's critics had legitimate points.
"(They) rightly observe that coal is not the cleanest fuel, and we are not arguing with these people," he said, "We are differing with them on how best to go about making coal cleaner."
Others, he said, "have mounted a jihad against coal" that is both economically and environmentally irrational: economically, because eliminating coal from the nation's energy mix would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and increase the cost of electricity, and environmentally, because it would not reduce the use of coal by emerging nations such as China.
The EIA projects that the world's most populous country will increase its use of coal-fired electricity from 350 gigawatts in 2006 to 950 gigawatts by 2030.
"For the foreseeable future, the question is at what level will coal be utilized (in the United States), and there's an honest discussion about that," Popovich said.
(E-mail Elwin Green at egreen(at)post-gazette.com. For other stories, visit www.scrippsnews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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