Reliable, Affordable American Energy

Coal continues to serve as the backbone of America's economy. As our most abundant, reliable and affordable source of fossil energy, we rely on our coal resources to supply nearly one quarter of America's total energy demand and half of all the electricity consumed by U.S. households, businesses and factories every year.

With the economy suffering the ills of a recession and nearly 10 percent of the U.S. workforce unemployed, America's enormous coal resources are more critical than ever in generating the low-cost electricity necessary to stimulate and sustain a robust economic recovery.

Abundant

Coal is far and away America's most abundant and affordable energy resource, especially when it comes to generating the electricity we need to provide reliable power to our homes and fuel our economy. It's truly the American energy resource used to supply nearly one quarter of America's total annual energy demand and half of its electricity.

The United States is often referred to as the "Saudi Arabia of coal" because its coal reserves are larger than the total crude oil reserves of Saudi Arabia — and, in fact, those of the entire Middle East. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. has more coal within its borders than any other country on the planet. We have twice the recoverable reserves of China and 1.5 times the reserves of Russia.

With 262 billion short tons — or 28 percent of the entire world’s recoverable reserves — the U.S. has enough coal today to supply the next 10 generations of Americans with secure, affordable electricity at current rates of consumption.

Affordable

Abundant and affordable supplies of energy are the lifeblood of the economy. Fortunately, coal isn't just America's most abundant energy resource; it's also its most affordable. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the low cost and abundance of coal is one of the primary reasons why consumers in the U.S. have benefitted from some of the lowest electricity rates of any market-oriented economy in the world.

Because of its abundance, reliability and affordability, half of the nation's electricity is generated from coal. As a result, electricity costs are generally lowered by half in states that rely upon coal for a majority of their electricity generation compared to states that rely on other fuel sources.

Reliable

Coal has served as a reliable source of electricity—since the 1970s production has increased at a pace sufficient to increase electricity generation from coal by 183 percent at stable and affordable prices.

Natural gas production has not increased appreciably during this period—domestic production is not much different now than it was in the 1970s. To close the gap between flat production and growing demand, foreign imports have increased by 355 percent.

Wind as a source for electricity has grown, but still only provides 1.3 percent of our electricity. Because of its weather dependency, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas estimates that less than 9 percent of the installed wind capacity can be counted on during peak demand.

But the coal power plants—which supply almost half of the nation's electricity—run on average at almost 80 percent of capacity.