THE FUTURE OF COAL IN THE UNITED STATES

Can the United States coal industry meet the increasing demand for electricity over the next 25 years? This question is particularly important for Texas, which uses more than 9 percent of all U.S. coal production. The question was recently posed to a National Research Council Committee looking at the state of the U.S. coal industry. The committee concluded that there is sufficient coal at current rates of production to meet anticipated needs through 2030 even if demand increased by 60 to 70 percent and that there is probably sufficient coal to meet the nation's needs for more than 100 years at current rates of consumption. The committee acknowledged that potential constraints on greenhouse gas (especially CO2) emissions, and the technical and economic feasibility of CO2 control measures, are the dominant issues affecting the outlook for the future of coal use over the next 25 years and beyond. The committee offered the following recommendations: a coordinated federal-state-industry initiative to determine the magnitude and characteristics of the nation's recoverable coal reserves should be instituted; health and safety research and development should be expanded; additional research is needed to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts associated with past, existing, and future coal mining and processing; there should be renewed support for advanced coal mining and processing research and development; and the U.S. Geological Survey should play a lead role in identifying, characterizing, and cataloguing the CO2 sequestration capacity of potential geologic sequestration resources. The committee agreed that coal will continue to provide a major portion of energy requirements in the United States for at least the next several decades, and it is imperative that policy makers are provided with accurate information describing the amount, location, and quality of the coal resources and reserves that will be available to fulfill these energy needs. It is also important that we extract our coal resource efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner. A renewed focus on federal support for coal-related research, coordinated across agencies and with the active participation of the states and industrial sector is a critical requirement.