ABSTRACT: Alaska has 4.0 Trillion Tons of Low-Sulfur Coal; Is There a Future for This Resource?

G. D. Stricker

The demand for and use of low-sulfur coal may increase because of concern with acid rain. Alaska's low-sulfur coal resources can only be described as enormous: 4.0 trillion tons of hypothetical onshore coal. Mean total sulfur content is 0.34% (range 0.06-6.6%, n = 262) with a mean apparent rank of subbituminous B. There are 50 coal fields in Alaska; the bulk of the resources are in six major fields or regions: Nenana, Cook INlet, Matanuska, Chignik-Herendeen Bay, North Slope, and Bering River.

For comparison, Carboniferous coals in the Appalachian region and Interior Province have a mean total sulfur content of 2.3% (range 0.1-19.0%, n = 5497) with a mean apparent rank of high-volatile A bituminous coal, and Rocky Mountain and northern Great Plains Cretaceous and Tertiary coals have a mean total sulfur content of 0.86% (range 0.02-19.0%, n = 2754) with a mean apparent rank of subbituminous B. Alaskan coal has two-fifths the total sulfur of western U.S. coals and one-sixth that of Carboniferous U.S. coals.

Even though Alaska has large resources of low-sulfur coal, these resources have not been developed because of (1) remote locations and little infrastructure, (2) inhospitable climate, and (3) long distances to potential markets. These resources will not be used in the near future unless there are some major, and probably violent, changes in the world energy picture.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91003©1990 AAPG Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, June 3-6, 1990