Illinois Coal Fact Sheet

              ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
George H. Ryan Pam McDonough
Governor Director
Illinois Coal Fact Sheet
Current Marke t s f o r I l l i n o i s C o a l
·  Roughly 40 million tons of Illinois coal are mined annually and produce about $1 billion in gross
revenues for Illinois producers.
·  Over 85 percent of Illinois coal production is purchased by the electric utility industry. Industrial,
residential and commercial users account for the remaining 15 percent.
·  Roughly 65 percent of Illinois coal is sold to out-of-state utilities.
·  The top 7 utility users of Illinois coal in 1998 were: Illinois Power, Tampa Electric Company,
Tennessee Valley Authority, AmerenCIPS, Central Illinois Light Company, Northern Indiana
Public Service and Gulf Power. All purchased more than 2 million tons of Illinois coal in 1998.
·  Illinois utilities typically utilize 14 million tons of Illinois coal each year.
·  States in addition to Illinois that use large quantities of our coal include Florida, Indiana, Missouri
and Tennessee. Florida utilities alone burn 7.5 million tons of Illinois coal each year.
·  Illinois coal exports to international markets fluctuate each year due to currency exchange rates and
customer demand. Annual exports of Illinois coal have been as high as 2.7 million tons in recent
years, although they are presently less than 1.0 million tons.
Clean Coal Technologies
·  The mandates contained in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 have triggered widespread fuel
switching from Illinois’ high-sulfur coal to low-sulfur western coal. One-third of Illinois' 1990 coal
production and sales have been lost to date as a result of fuel switching and price competition
brought on by the Amendments.
·  Simple flue gas desulfurization (“scrubbing”) reduces the emissions of SO2 by 90 to 95 percent and
can significantly reduce emissions of other hazardous air pollutants. This technology can generally
be retrofitted to existing coal-fired power stations throughout Illinois.
·  Over the last two decades, more advanced technologies have been under development throughout
the world. In addition to controlling emissions of SO2, NOx and other pollutants, advanced clean
coal technologies have improved the efficiency of coal-fired plants by 21 percent, subsequently
reducing CO2 emissions by 17 to 27 percent.
I l l i n o i s ’ Commitme n t t o t h e Co a l I n d u s t r y
·  Illinois sponsors the largest coal research and development program in the United States. In the
last two decades, the Illinois Coal Research Program has granted over $43 million in state, federal
and private funds for basic and applied research on coal extraction, preparation and utilization.