Coal in Illinois

              Coal in Illinois
The coal mining industry has a rich and proud tradition in Illinois. Coal plays a vital role as an energy source, and the industries involved in the mining, transportation and utilization of coal provide thousands of jobs for Illinoisans and economic stability to many communities across the State.
Coal underlies 37,000 square miles of Illinois -- about 65 percent of the state's surface. Estimated recoverable coal reserves in Illinois (38 billion tons) account for almost one-eighth of total U.S. coal reserves and one-quarter of the nation's bituminous coal reserves. Illinois' coal reserves contain more Btu than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Each day, every American uses about 20 pounds of coal in the form of inexpensive and increasingly clean coal-based electricity and other products.
Production and Markets
Coal was first discovered in Illinois more than 300 years ago. Mining began almost 200 years ago. While the early mining was done with picks, shovels and mules, today's miners employ state-of-the-art techniques to ensure the best coal quality and greatly heightened productivity.
Today, Illinois ranks ninth among coal producing states, mining more than 32 million tons of coal each year in 11 counties. In 2006, 22 Illinois mines employed about 3,900 miners and generated approximately 20,000 spin-off jobs. The typical coal miner earns $45,450 per year.
Coal mined in Illinois is classified as "bituminous," with high energy values ranging between 10,000 and 14,000 Btu/lb. Put another way, it takes less than one pound of Illinois coal to produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity.
The Illinois coal industry pumps nearly $1 billion into the Illinois economy each year. More than 90 percent of Illinois coal is produced for the electric utility industry. Industrial, residential and commercial users account for the remaining 10 percent. Illinois utilities typically utilize nearly 5 million tons of Illinois coal each year. Meanwhile, about three-fourths of Illinois coal is sold to out-of-state electric utilities.
The top seven utility users of Illinois coal in 2006 were: Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Energy Indiana, Northern Indiana Public Service, Tampa Electric Company, Cincinnati Gas & Electric, AmerenEnergy Resources, and Springfield City Water Light and Power. All purchased at least one million tons of Illinois coal in 2006. Tennessee Valley Authority utilities used 6.3 million tons of Illinois coal in 2006.
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 million tons.
Clean Coal Technologies
The development of new cleaner coal technologies has progressed since the Clean Air Amendments took effect in 1990. State-of-the-art technologies of the 1980s and 90s, such as Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) and advanced Pulverized Coal (PC) plants, have made significant improvements in efficiency and sulfur dioxide emission control. However, they lack a means of controlling carbon dioxide, now viewed as a major environmental pollutant contributing to climate change.
Advanced coal gasification techniques offer opportunities to use Illinois high Btu coal in coal-to-liquids projects that will produce low sulfur diesel fuel, synthetic natural gas and fertilizer bringing energy security to the United States. And, oxygen-blown gasifiers offer the unique opportunity to capture and sequester, or store, nearly pure carbon dioxide. These new technologies promise to bring an economic rebound to the coal regions of Southern Illinois.