Published: April 25, 2006 08:30 am      

It’s time the U.S. play its energy ace – coal

Coal is Pennsylvania’s energy ace in the hole. In a world where a barrel of oil now costs more than $70 and there are growing concerns about depleting supplies, escalating demand from China, terrorism, war and hurricanes, we can bring to bear an energy supply that is increasingly clean, secure, abundant, affordable and incredibly versatile. Coal can be liquefied to produce transportation fuels, gasified to replace expensive natural gas, pulverized for power plants and used as the heat source to make ethanol.

And we need the energy clean coal can provide. The United States is a growing nation. In 2005, we added almost 3 million people to the population, built more than 1.1 million homes, started upward of 3 million small businesses and flew more than 800 trillion air passenger miles.

The Department of Energy projects that by 2030 our energy consumption will grow from 100 quadrillion Btu to 127 quads – more than the annual consumption of France and Germany combined.

Coal is the only domestic fuel that can meet demand of this magnitude. It is time to come to grips with the stark realities of the global situation and deploy the most significant asset in our energy portfolio – coal.

Our research suggests coal should be a preferred fuel across the energy spectrum based on several important advantages:

n It is increasingly clean. Environmental progress in mining and coal combustion over the past 20 years has been spectacular. Coal power plants, for example, produce three times as much electricity than in 1970, but emissions have declined by one-third and are heading lower as clean-coal technologies propel continuous improvement.

With more than 55 percent of its electricity coming from coal, Pennsylvania has been a clear beneficiary of these advanced technologies.

n It is inexpensive. Natural-gas prices have increased 150 percent in just the past four years. Coal is much less expensive and far more reliable. In 2005, for example, the cost of producing electricity from natural gas was $8.33 per million Btu.

The cost for coal? – $1.54 per million Btu. It is no accident that Pennsylvania has the lowest electricity rates in the Northeast.

n Coal is available. U.S. oil and natural-gas production both peaked in the 1970s, but we have enough coal to last 200 years.

We now use 1.1 billion tons of coal per year but have a reserve base of more than 500 billion tons distributed across 30 states.

With more than 21 billion tons of bituminous and 7 billion tons of anthracite, Pennsylvania is the Saudi Arabia of coal.

n It is secure. We are growing increasingly dependent on foreign oil. The Department of Energy has projected that we will soon be importing almost 60 percent of our petroleum and 21 percent of our natural gas. At today’s prices, in just the next decade, we will be spending more than $ 2.6 trillion to import energy – more than $25,000 for every household in America.

Further, much of this supply must necessarily come from unfriendly countries, which will use their leverage to our disadvantage. As we look to the future, we should take note that 42 percent of the world’s natural gas is in Russia and Iran.

n It fits Pennsylvania’s energy plan. In December, Gov. Ed Rendell unveiled a strategy to significantly strengthen Pennsylvania’s economy, partly through the greater use of coal. His plan, called “An American Energy Harvest,” is a welcome step toward the goal of “jobs, prosperity and independence.”

Rendell’s comments on the benefits of coal were echoed last month by Gregory Boyce, president of Peabody Energy.

In a report to U.S. Secretary of Energy Sam Boden for the National Coal Council, Boyce indicated that using coal to make liquid fuels and natural gas could create more than 1.4 million jobs and reduce energy prices by 33 percent.

Clean coal can do all this – more jobs, higher incomes, new businesses, lower energy costs, a reduced trade deficit, enhanced national security and a major step toward less dependence on foreign suppliers.

For the past decade, our state has been shipping thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas. We must follow Rendell’s lead and use coal and energy production to reinvigorate our industrial base.

As power stations, ethanol plants, gasification facilities and liquefaction units are built in the commonwealth, we can take control of our own energy destiny and follow a new clarion call to the future: “Coal – Made in Pennsylvania.”



Frank Clemente is senior professor of social science at Penn State University, where his research specialization is energy policy. He formerly was director of the university’s Environmental Policy Center. His research has been funded by the National Science, Ford and Rockefeller foundations.