by Nancy R. Nixon

What industry provides $1.5 billion to Illinois' economy each year, employs 4,000 people, resulting in 20,000 spin-off jobs, and has resources that can keep the state's lights burning for centuries to come? If you guessed the coal industry, you're correct. Most Illinois residents probably don't think much about coal unless they're personally involved in the mining industry, but their lives are most likely touched by coal every day.

The United States uses approximately 1 billion tons of coal per year, and much of that is used to generate more than half the electricity in the country. An average American uses approximately 20 pounds of coal per day in the form of coal-based electricity. And the amount of electricity used to power even the most basic appliances may come as a surprise.

Every year, your electric stove uses approximately half a ton of coal, an electric water heater uses two tons of coal, and a refrigerator uses a half-ton. It's projected that the average American's energy use (residential) will increase by 1 percent per year through 2020.

We live in a glutinous society, where keeping up with the Joneses means having several vehicles at our disposal, a TV in every room and the latest video games and DVD players

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for our entertainment. The resources to feed this appetite must come from somewhere. With the turmoil in the Middle East, we are in danger of losing access to the oil on which we have become so dependent. To make matters worse, heads of major power marketers have been accused of unprecedented financial mismanagement, causing the public to lose trust in utilities as a whole. The market has never been so vulnerable.

In the past 20 years, the price of natural gas has tripled and crude oil (used for gasoline and heating) is up 50 percent. The price of coal is only up 4 percent. Coal has never looked so attractive, and according to Roger Dennison, President and General Manager of Turris Coal Company in Elkhart, we have ample resources of coal in Illinois. He says, "The state of Illinois sits on 30 billion tons of recoverable reserves of bituminous coal, roughly one quarter of that type of coal in the United States."

While it would seem that Illinois should be reaping the benefits of this vast resource, the state actually imports approximately 70 percent of the coal required for its energy needs from other states. The problem lies in the fact that Illinois coal has higher sulfur content than coal that comes from other states, and cleaning it thoroughly enough so it can be burned to meet strict environmental restrictions is a costly proposition. Dennison says, "During the 1990s, changing environmental laws and utility deregulation were major concerns to Illinois utilities. Capital was not invested for scrubbers (to clean sulfur from the coal), and many switched to out of state coal."

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 clearly sent a shockwave through the Illinois coal industry. In 2001, annual coal production was down to 35 million tons from a high of 65 million tons in the early 1990s. The cost to clean Illinois coal was too high, and the state's mines simply couldn't compete against coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Taylor Pensoneau, President of the Illinois Coal Association, says there are just 20 operating mines left in Illinois, and of those, just 14 to 15 are major mines.

According to Brad Kauffman at Turris Coal, coal production has not only decreased by more than half since 1990, the number of Illinois miners has fallen from 10,000 then to around 4,000 today. Losing the grasp on the coal industry that was once so vital in Illinois has been detrimental to the economy of towns that have depended on it for their livelihood. In some areas of the state, mining jobs and their spin-off jobs can account for as much as 50 percent of the county's employment.

Illinois' electric cooperatives have seen firsthand how this has affected their communities. And while most investor-owned utilities burn coal from the Western states, co-ops have consistently shown their commitment to burning Illinois coal. Continental Cooperative Services' power plant at Pearl has been in operation for many years, and new plant projects are in the works at Corn Belt Energy, an electric cooperative headquartered in Bloomington, and Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) in Marion—all of which use Illinois coal.

For the past several years, Corn Belt Energy, in conjunction with Turris Coal Company, has been laying the groundwork to build a mine-mouth coal-fired power plant at the Turris Coal

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mine site. This will be the first Illinois coal-fired power plant built in 16 years. A mine-mouth plant is a win-win proposition for both Turris Coal and Corn Belt. Turns Coal can sign long term contracts, which means stable jobs for its miners. And Corn Belt caneliminate over-the-road transportation charges and set the plant's specifications for one type of coal, saving time and money.

Corn Belt will be taking advantage of more than $50 million in state and federal clean coal grants for the $140 million, 90-megawatt (mw) power plant project. Jeff Reeves, President/CEO of Corn Belt, says they pursued this venture to help minimize the cost of power for their 27,000 cooperative members. This project will enable the co-op to utilize its own electric generation instead of buying power on the very volatile wholesale power market. According to Tony Campbell, Vice President of Electric Distribution at Corn Belt, "This will be a very efficient, base-load unit, and ultimately this will mean lower rates for our members. If you look at all the power companies in the Midwest, the lowest rates usually have base-load coal in their portfolio. We believe this is a fuel source we can use for a long time."

The power plant will feature the first large-scale demonstration of a boiler built by the D.B. Riley Company. It will be redesigned to use re-engineered burners to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide that goes out the stack. Scrubbers will be used to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. Using this clean coal technology will not only allow Corn Belt to meet or exceed Illinois' clean air standards, it will allow the co-op to use local coal, instead of Western coal.

Southern Illinois Power Cooperative (SIPC) is also benefiting from clean coal funding with $6.8 million in state grants and bond funds for its $227 million construction project. The project will allow the co-op to re-power three turbines, install a state-of-the-art circulating fluidized-bed boiler, and add new natural gas turbines. The project, which should be completed in early 2004, will ensure SIPC's six distribution cooperative members clean, reliable and affordable power for at least the next 30 years.

The new boiler's atmospheric fluidized-bed technology will mix coal with materials that can absorb much of the pollution that otherwise would go out the smokestack. Coal and other materials, usually limestone, are crushed and mixed together, and air is added. During that process, the coal is burned and much of the sulfur compounds are actually absorbed by the limestone. Oxides of nitrogen are reduced during the process as well. Using this technology will eliminate the use of an additional scrubber, and the process will reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by more than 75 percent.

The fourth and final existing boiler is being retrofitted with a selective catalytic reduction (scrubber) system that will reduce emissions and increase generating capacity.

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Finally, two natural gas-fueled combustion turbines are being installed, each with a generating capacity of 70 megawatts (mw). The two turbines will be used during peak demand periods and will comply with new air quality standards.

Serving nearly 63,600 consumer/members, SIPC's distribution member cooperatives are Clinton County Electric Cooperative in Breese, Egyptian Electric Cooperative in Steeleville, Monroe County Electric Co-Op-erative in Waterloo, SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative in Eldorado, Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative in Gondola and Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Mt. Vernon.

What does the future hold for the coal industry in Illinois? The future is beginning to look brighter. Pensoneau thinks that emissions laws will become so strict that even Western coal will need to be cleaned, thus driving up its price. He also feels that rail charges to haul coal from Western states to Illinois, which have traditionally been unrealistically low, will increase. If true, these two factors would give Illinois coal a competitive boost.

According to Pensoneau, there's not only going to be an Illinois coal industry, but a more broadly based Illinois coal industry. Pensoneau says, "I cannot believe that all the efforts we've made on our own, in conjunction with state government, and with support from others during the past 20-30 years, are not going to come into play. We've seen some of the early seeds of it right now, and it's going to be more visible in the future. There's no question across the country that coal will be playing an increasingly larger role in fueling the nation s energy needs. The challenge in future years is for Illinois to bear a rightful share of that bright future for coal."

Coal, Energy and the Environment by Shawn Wilcockson In 1990, Congress amended the federal Clean Air Act to address three major threats to the nation's environment and the health of Americans: acid rain, urban air pollution and toxic air emissions. The Clean Air Act Amendments require a wide range of industries to reduce their emissions of pollutants. In Title IV of the Amendments, Congress required that electric utilities cut sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in half by the start of the 21st century. These mandates have been especially felt here in Illinois. Illinois coal generally has higher sulfur content compared to coal from Western states and will emit greater amounts of the pollutant (SO2) when burned, which contributes to acid rain. To continue as a major player in the utilities market the Illinois coal industry now must find a way to bum this fossil fuel and lighten its footprint on the environment, while still providing reliable and affordable electric power. One approach to accomplish this is through the implementation of clean coal technologies and other measures that will allow high-sulfur coal to be burned in a community-safe manner. A clean coal technology currently being implemented by a handful of Illinois coal producers is flue gas desulfurization, or "scrubbing," which helps reduce the emissions of hazardous air pollutants, particularly SO2. This new technology has the potential to revive the depressed Illinois coal industry. Since the Environmental Protection Agency recently announced plans to develop regulations to address mercury emissions from coal-fired plants, and with many groups calling for regulations to address carbon dioxide, it seems time for more Illinois support of clean coal technology. The alternative scenario is to lose the traditional Illinois industry and its $1.5 billion tax base to other coal-producing states.

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