Energy demands may strain coal mines

PARK CITY — America's voracious appetite for energy will put tremendous pressure on the nation's coal industry, according to Steven Leer, chief executive officer of Arch Coal, which owns three coal mines in Utah and is the state's largest coal producer.

Today, about 50 percent of the nation's electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants. Leer said that market share will grow by another 7 percent in coming years. In fact, projections show that by 2030 the nation will need 700 million tons of coal more than what is being produced today, a 68 percent increase.

"That is a huge number," Leer said Thursday at the Utah Mining Association's annual convention. "It's going to be a challenge to every man and woman in this room.

"Our nuclear plants are running at full capacity. When you look at the utility base in the United States, today they are building coal-fired power plants. Five years ago it was all natural gas, but natural gas was $2.50 to $3 per thousand cubic feet. Natural gas this morning was above $7 again. (Natural gas plants) are simply totally uneconomic in today's environment."

Leer said no new hydropower plants are on the drawing board. And renewable sources of energy, he said, will only grow as long they are subsidized.

Renewable energy makes up less than 2.5 percent of the total electric generation today, Leer said, and he expects renewables could make up as much as 5 percent to 10 percent of generating capacity.

"But the bulk of it is going to be on the coal industry," Leer said. "We have the resource. What we have to do is have the will."

He said the next big coal find is Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where coal seams run 70 to 100 feet thick. Arch Coal's Black Thunder coal mine, located northeast of Casper, Wyo., is considered the biggest mine in North America.

"It produces more energy per day than the Alaskan pipeline in terms of BTUs," Leer said. "We load around 30 to 35 miles of trains every 24 hours. We're one mine. There are several of them out there."

Still, more coal is needed, according to David Litvin, president of the Utah Mining Association. He says 65 percent of Utah's remaining coal reserves are locked away in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, 1.7 million acres set aside in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton.