Print this pageLow-Sulfur Coal Fields in Alaska Poised to Meet the Demand for High Quality Coal
CLOUGH, JAMES G., GARY D. STRICKER and RONALD H. AFFOLTER
Alaskan coal is a large untapped national resource (estimated 5.6 trillion short tons of hypothetical coal) that probably exceeds 40 percent of the total coal resources in the United States. There are tour coal fields which have the potential to increase production or to be mined in the first half of the 21St century: (1) Healy (presently mining 1.5 million tons/year)-Tertiary-age subbituminous coal, 7 billion short tons hypothetical resources; (2) Matanuska-Tertiary-age high volatile bituminous coal to anthracite, 500 million short tons hypothetical resources; (3) Beluga-Tertiary-age subbituminous coal, 30 billion short tons hypothetical resources; and (4) western North Slopo-Cretaceous-age high volatile bituminous coal, 800 billion short tons hypothetical resources.
When compared to similar-age contiguous U.S. coals, arithmetic mean (ppm on a whole coal basis) of potentially hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Alaska Cretaceous-age coals are higher in As, Co, Cr, Hg, Ni; lower in Pb and Se; and similar in Be, Cd, Mn and U; while HAPs in Alaska Tertiary-age coals are higher in Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Se; lower in As, Be, Hg, and U; and similar in Cd. These Alaskan coal fields have the lowest reported total sulfur content of any known U.S. coal: Healy- 0.27%, Matanuska- 0.37%, Beluga- 0.16%, and western North Slopo- 0.31 %.
Although Alaska is endowed with large resources of high quality coal, its coal fields have been slow to develop because: (1) remote locations and little infrastructure, (2) inhospitable terrain and climate, and (3) long overland and overseas distances to potential markets. Under proper market conditions and increasing global environmental awareness, Alaska's enormous coal resources have the potential to meet future demand for low-sulfur coal.