About 25 years ago I was involved in a study of the Kaiparowits Plateau to determine the feasibility of developing the emmense coal reserves there. The Kaiparowits was then, and remains to this day, the largest, highest-quality, untapped coalfield in the 48 contiguous states. The part of the property I was involved with contained 4.3 billion tons in-place. About 1.8 billion of that was considered to be clean recoverable tons. This is just the tip of the iceberg, with several adjacent reserve blocks of similar size and quality. I remember in my research coming across a news article dated about 1975 where a gentleman high with the Sierra Club was adamant we should forget nuclear and more-fully utilize coal reserves like the Kaiparowits Coalfield for generating electricity. Funny how activism travels in circles isn't it? By the way, it is a shame that Bill Clinton declared the entire Kaiparowits field a National Recreation Area just prior to his departure from the White House. It will literally take an act of Congress to mine one lump of that wealth that lays entirely on Utah soil.

Great post Monte. I wish more knew about these reserves, and the mess Pres. Clinton has created in Utah.