Sep 11, 2013 2 min read

While it is important for Pennsylvania to have a diversified energy portfolio, the current and future importance of coal is irrefutable. Coal is vital to keeping energy costs low and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide. As the fourth leading coal-producing state, mining 68 million tons last year, Pennsylvania’s coal industry created 49,100 jobs, either directly or indirectly.

Coal will also be increasingly important for our energy future. Pennsylvania alone relies on coal for 44 percent of its energy supply and, just as Karen Alderman Harbert and Jim Grech noted in an article that appeared in the Sept. 1 edition of the newspaper, the United States and the rest of the world are only expected to increase reliance on coal as an energy source in the coming decades.

In order to stay at the forefront of energy technology, the coal-fueled electric industry has invested $110 billion to help develop many of these clean coal technologies, which have increased the operational efficiency of power plants, while also reducing emissions.

Coal will continue to fuel Pennsylvania’s energy needs affordably and reliably, and although the energy landscape is changing, we must work to encourage further development of and investment in clean coal technology.

Robert M. Duncan

Washington, D.C.

Duncan is the president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).