History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania There are two types of coal found in Pennsylvania: anthracite (the “hard coal” found in Northeastern Pennsylvania below the Allegheny Ridge southwest to Harrisburg; also called “stone coal”, “rock coal” in the 1800s) and bituminous (“soft coal”, found west of the Allegheny Front escarpment). Anthracite coal is a natural mineral with a high carbon and energy content that gives off light and heat (produced energy) when burned, making it useful as a fuel. It was possibly first used in Pennsylvania as a fuel in 1769, but its real history begins with a documented
Energy policy of the United States US burns 1 billion tons of coal every year. Concern for climate change has led to a call for a moratorium on all coal consumption, unless carbon capture is utilized. Coal is the largest potential source of CO emissions. Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is the cleanest currently operational coal-fired electricity generation technology. FutureGen is an experimental U.S. research project to investigate the possibility of sequestering IGCC CO emissions underground. Natural gas production and consumption quadrupled between 1950 and 1970 to , but declined steadily to stabilize in 1986. Since then, the United States imports a rising share of its