According to the 87th Annual Report of the Maryland Bureau of Mines, Surface mines accounted for 76% of the coal produced in Maryland in 2008.

Allegany County operations accounted for 1,217,805 tonnes of coal mined from the surface. Another 1,112,086 tonnes were produced in Garrett County. The coal production in Maryland’s 2 westernmost counties was up 619,961 tonnes from 2007 when 2,428,583 tonnes were mined.

The problem with the bureau’s report, according to Ms Adrienne Ottaviani ED of the Maryland Coal Association, is that it is already a year old.

Ms Ottaviani said that those are 2008 numbers and things have changed a lot since then.

She said that permits are being held up based upon a multitude of different issues including the construction of high walls and ground control plans. Between the federal government believing that there is really such a thing as global warming and thinking coal is the culprit, this is not really the season for coal. They are doing everything they can to stop coal as an energy source. Companies can’t continue to produce coal under the regulations they have.

Ms Ottaviani said that Green sources of energy are wonderful, but will never be able to replace the USD 50,000 per year to USD 60,000 per year jobs and fringe benefits generated by coal mining. She said that there were 1,300 direct jobs in the Maryland coal mining industry in 2008, but that number has dwindled.

She added that “One problem happened when AES Warrior Run had internal mechanical problems and wasn’t buying and burning our coal for a while. Companies had to lay people off. Fortunately, AES got that worked out and is buying local coal again.”

Ms Ottaviani said that AES is the shining example of how coal can be burned with low emissions. They have the lowest emission level in the state and one of the lowest in the country. I have been trying for years to get other power plants to retrofit or consider new construction to achieve those same emission rates.

(Sourced from Istockanalyst.com)