Print this pageAssessing the U.S. Coal Resources: What Do We Want to Know?
GLUSKOTER, HAL
The U. S. Geological Survey's National Coal Resource Assessment (NCRA) is a five-year effort to identify and characterize the coal resources that could potentially provide the fuel for the nation's coal-derived energy during the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Coal is currently the dominant source of energy produced in the U.S. and coal combustion produces the majority of the electricity in the country. Coal production is approximately one billion tons per year, which is an historic high, and is projected to continue to increase for, at least, the next several decades.
The Nation's total coal endowment is large and it is generally accepted that the United States will be able to sustain it need for coal with domestic resources. However, coal resources are widely distributed geographically within the United States and it is not at all clear which of the resources will be mined. Geologic, economic, environmental, and political factors may significantly impact coal production. Within the past three decades, coal production in Wyoming has grown from 7 million tons per year to more than 260 million tons per year, making Wyoming the largest coal producing state and the source of more than one- fourth of the nation's coal. The impetus for this rapid growth was the enactment of clean air legislation in the 1970s. The NCRA is designed to locate, assess the quantities, and, to whatever extent possible, characterize by quality those coal resources that could supply U.S. needs in the first quarter of the twenty-first century.