The US coal industry has gone through a number of gradual shifts in recent decades. The industry has become more concentrated, and mine productivity has improved. More low-sulphur coal and less high sulphur coal is today being produced. Less coal is exported, in part because of a strong US dollar. Improved production methods, such as greater utilisation of and improvements in longwall mining technology, have lowered the cost of underground mining, although surface mining continues to hold a substantial cost advantage. The United States is well endowed with coal. The total demonstrated resource base is estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at 508 billion short tons, of which about 274 billion short tons are classified as recoverable reserves. US recoverable reserves are estimated at 25% of total world reserves. Production of US coal reached an all-time high in 2001 at 1,121 million short tons. Coal supplies 22% of the nation's energy demand but 52% of its electricity needs. EIA forecasts coal to fall to 47% of the US electricity market by 2025 because of increased competition from natural gas. About 1,063 million short tons of coal were consumed in the United States in 2001, 90% of which was used in the electric power sector. Currently, railroads move about 65% of all coal, barges transport about 15%, and trucks about 11%. The outlook for US coal is mixed. While forecasts predict steady growth in coal supply and demand, the increased production is expected to come from fewer, larger mines and fewer producers. Continued competition from natural gas is likely to put pressure on coal prices for the foreseeable future.

Coal will continue to provide a major portion of energy requirements in the United States for at least the next several decades. It is imperative that accurate information describing the amount, location, and quality of the coal resources and reserves be available to fulfill energy needs. It is also important that the United States extract its coal resources efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner. A renewed focus on federal support for coal-related research, coordinated across agencies and with the active participation of the states and industrial sector, is a critical element for each of these requirements. Coal focuses on the research and development needs and priorities in the areas of coal resource and reserve assessments, coal mining and processing, transportation of coal and coal products, and coal utilization.

The emergence of coal-based fuel economy over the course of the nineteenth century was one of the most significant contributions the America’s Industrial Revolution, but the transition from wood to mineral energy sources was a gradual one that transpired over a number of decades. The documents in these volumes recreate the institutional history of the American coal industry in the nineteenth century; in doing so they provide a first-hand perspective on the developments in regard to political economy, business structure and competition, the rise of formal trade unions, and the creation of a national coal trade. Although the collection strives to be wide-ranging in region and theme, the Pennsylvania anthracite coal trade forms the thematic backbone as it became the most important American mineral resource to see successful development throughout the nineteenth century and consequently saw unprecedented levels of intervention by the federal government. The texts for this collection were selected for their accessibility to modern readers as well as their relationship to a series of common themes across the nineteenth century American coal industry — with headnotes and annotations provided to explain their context and the reasons for their inclusion.The third volume in this set traces the three decades following the American Civil War, during which time the use of coal for manufacturing, locomotives and domestic heating helped build a dynamic industrial economy in the United States. Mineral fuel growth powered the growth of the nation and by 1885 coal became the single most important source of American energy. Coal mining spread to nearly every corner of the nation in the half-century following the civil war. By the time of the Great Anthracite Strike in 1902, the American coal industry was a truly national phenomenon. The rise of large and well-funded mining and railroad corporations, the national unions, and the inroads by state governments into mine safety