Coal will remain a very significant part of U.S. energy needs, even though there
will continue to be concern about environmental impacts associated with
its use. Currently, about 88 percent of U.S. coal production is used
by electric utilities. The remaining 12 percent is either exported or
used domestically for other industrial applications, such as coke for
steel production.
Debates generated by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act have highlighted
the critical need for current, accurate, reliable, and comprehensive
information on the quality of our domestic coal resources. To address
this need the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) and its member utilities, geological surveys in coal
producing states, and the Department of Energy’s Federal Technology Center
(FETC) have created the National Coal Quality Inventory (NaCQI). The
overall objective of this partnership is to generate reliable, accurate,
and accessible information on the quality of the major coal beds that
will be mined in the U.S. during the next 20-30 years. The new, comprehensive
coal-quality database will augment the existing coalquality database
(COALQUAL) maintained by the USGS.
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