Published: November 27, 2008 08:00 am            

Government needs to mine coal’s potential

Coal, particularly Pennsylvania coal, has prominently figured in shaping the historic and economic profiles of the nation and commonwealth.

From winning the American Revolution to advancing the Industrial Revolution, from fighting two world wars to serving as our best hedge against dependence on foreign energy, coal has been the ingredient our political and industrial leaders have repeatedly turned to.

Coal remains our most abundant and reliable source of electricity, accounting for 56 percent of the commonwealth’s electric generation and about half the nation’s power output. It is also our most affordable resource, at a cost one-third that of natural gas and one-sixth that of oil.

Coal mining and the businesses that service the industry are significant contributors to the state’s economy, totaling a combined gain of almost $11 billion per year.

With recoverable coal resources in Pennsylvania sufficient to last an additional 250 to 300 years, coal should continue to play a critical role in any blueprint for energy security.

However, for coal’s potential to be fully realized, there needs to be a change in the public’s perception of coal and a better understanding of how it is mined and used. In addition, policy-makers must make more of an effort in ensuring that environmental laws and regulations are balanced and based on sound science and common sense.

Here are a few steps that need to be taken in order to take full advantage of our coal resources:

* First, we need to educate the public about the need for and use of coal. Outside the coalfields, coal’s benefits as a low cost, reliable source of electricity are largely invisible.

As coal declined as a home heating fuel, coal slipped from view in an absolute sense, and broad personal experience with coal’s use declined as well. Today, coal has largely become an abstraction. (Unfortunately, few people know that coal generates the electricity that powers our lights and computers.)

Further, the general public seldom hears about the positive aspects of coal usage, just the negatives exaggerated by a biased and misinformed media, or a militant environmental group with an agenda to ban coal by reinforcing false stereotypes of a bygone era.

* Second, the active mining industry’s operations need to be judged within the context of existing mining practices and technology and under the terms of current environmental regulations and mine safety and health standards.

Advancements in technology combined with strict regulatory standards and a rigorous permitting process have allowed mining to proceed without posing long-term environmental affects.

Post-mining discharges from newly permitted mine sites have been virtually eliminated, and the industry has taken the lead in reclaiming abandoned mine lands and abating acid mine drainage at no cost to the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania operators have an excellent record of compliance with mining laws and regulations. Also, Pennsylvania mines are safer now than they have ever been.

* Finally, environmental regulations must be balanced and driven by science and reason, not emotion and hyperbole. Everyone wants a “clean” environment, but clean cannot be defined as pristine.

While environmental protection should be on our priority list it is not our only priority and must be measured within the context of other priorities, such as having affordable and reliable electricity and economic growth.

The availability of competitively priced electricity is a prerequisite for a sound economy. However, the more militant environmental agenda is specifically designed to limit or prohibit the development and use of our cheapest, most abundant source of electricity.

A better and perhaps our only viable approach to a sound economy is to allow the exploitation of our nation’s vast natural resource base currently controlled by federal, state and local governments or those off limits due to ill-conceived and unwarranted environmental constraints.

The dollars generated to our government coffers would be unlimited. And significant job creation would occur along with a means to provide the most sound foundation to put our nation on a footing to become reasonably energy self-sufficient.

Perhaps it is time for a common-sense solution to what seems to be a complex problem.



John Stilley, president of Amerikohl Mining Inc., Butler, is a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Coal Association.

        

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