COAL IN TEXAS: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Although Texas is known for its prominence in oil and gas production, the importance of coal in Texas rarely receives adequate recognition. Coal accounts for more than 36% of the electricity generated in Texas, the leading consumer of electricity in the U. S. In 2010, Texas mined 41,420,000 short tons of coal (down from a 1993 peak of 56 million short tons), the sixth highest nationally, and consumed about 104 million short tons, fully 10% of the coal used in the U.S. If Texas were a country, it would rank 11th in global coal production. Texas coal was first mined commercially in 1819. Most of the mines in the late 1800s and early 1900s were shallow underground works; though generally small in size, these mines were numerous and geographically widespread, with mining districts in North‑Central Texas (Carboniferous bituminous coals), the Rio Grande Valley (Cretaceous and Eocene bituminous coals), and throughout the Texas Gulf Coast (Paleocene and Eocene lignites). Bituminous coal production, related mainly to railroad activity, peaked between 1910 and 1920 (>1,000,000 tons/year), just as oil and gas were emerging as cheaper fuels. From the late 1920s Texas coal mining diminished to near extinction, only to experience a major resurgence in the 1970s with large-scale development of lignite surface mines for commercial power generation; bituminous surface mines opened in Texas during this time were smaller and short lived. Texas lignite also has been used in the production of aluminum, cement, wallboard, and briquettes. Eleven lignite mines operate currently in the Texas Gulf Coast, but nearly two‑thirds of the coal consumed in Texas comes by rail from Wyoming. The long‑term future of coal production and consumption in Texas is clouded by the same variables that coal faces nationwide, mainly environmental concerns and natural gas availability. Irrespective of these factors, coal likely will remain a major fuel source in Texas for the foreseeable future.