With the price of heating oil on the rise, one of Pennsylvania's greatest natural resources - coal - is in high demand, and not just locally.

Ettore DiCasimirro, president of Skytop Coal Inc., New Boston, said recently that with the rapid industrialization of China, the world's largest producer of coal, the Chinese are not only keeping their domestic product but also importing it from the United States.

Much of that coal is coming from Pennsylvania's Anthracite Region.

China has stricter regulations concerning coal than the U.S., and the U.S. government would like to shut down some of the coal breakers here due to the pollution associated with burning coal, DiCasimirro said.

"It (coal) is something this country seems that they don't want," he said. "This country (U.S.) has over 50 percent of its electricity coming from coal."

Dicasimirro said that as China's economy continues to grow, its number of coal furnaces increases monthly. Since the U.S. and Pennsylvania are large producers of anthracite coal, the Chinese are buying it.

Duane C. Feagley, executive director of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Council, said there are two popular sizes of coal - rice and nut coal - which remain in the domestic market. Sizes smaller than that are being shipped overseas.

"We have significant reserves and high-quality reserves here (in the U.S)," Feagley said.

Anthracite coal is desired because it has the highest carbon count, the fewest impurities and the highest calorific content of any type of coal, allowing it to burn hotter and longer.

Since there are many companies that now strictly only do business with China and overseas, even in Schuylkill County, according to DiCasimirro, the business practice is taking a large amount of coal off the local market and stockpiles are down.

"There are stories going around that people are waiting a couple weeks to get a load of coal out of some of the breakers," he said.

DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday also said DEP is aware it's been difficult for the secondary buyers like home-heating suppliers but orders for coal are still being filled.

"The shortage is mostly because of the increase in demand for anthracite in the industrial world, like steel production, carbon source uses and water filtration," DEP northeast region spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said.

Dicasimirro said that although many coal companies are exporting, some, including his company, are making an effort to take care of local customers first.

"If it wasn't for the local business that we had years ago, we wouldn't be here today," he said. "I'd like to take care of the people that took care of us over the years first."

Feagley said that while there is a coal shortage in Pennsylvania and exports are up, there are other factors influencing the demand for coal.

"We are mining more coal and pulling more people than we have in the past 25 years," he said. "Anthracite coal production for the first six months of 2011 was up 25 percent."

According to Feagley, the Pennsylvania coal mining industry normally produces about 1.5 million to 1.7 million tons of coal annually, and this year, they industry expects to produce about 2 million tons.

As far as exports, while in the past about 150,000 tons were sent overseas, in recent years, there has been as much as 400,000 tons produced for foreign buyers in a year.

One of the other major factors contributing to the increased demand is the loss of production from many of the anthracite deep mines.

Feagley said that in the last five years, about five to six deep mines have gone out of business, which is a loss of about 3 million tons of coal.

Other factors, according to Feagley, include: the increased rainfall in 2011, state and regulatory practices slowing things down, the increased cost for heating oil increases demand for coal, and there were some coal dealers who waited until there was a demand to try to get the coal instead of buying it from June through August, adding to the shortage

Although the demand has increased, he added that the price for coal has not increased significantly and is roughly $170 to $190 a ton, costing about $600 to $800 to heat a home during the winter.

"There's a lot of little things that happened that have contributed to this over the last year," Feagley said. "I've been in contact with the producers and they're telling me they're taking steps to make sure there's adequate production for the winter."

Feagley said that Pennsylvania's coal mining companies are working diligently, and over the next several months, the shortage will start to be worked out.

"Our industry is doing everything we can," Feagley said. "Supplies are starting to return to normal levels."
Source: Republican Herald (by Thomas Leskin )

About Thomas Leskin
Thomas Leskin is a staff writer at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa. A 2010 graduate of Penn State University with a B.A. in print journalism, before working at his current position, he worked as an intern at China Daily in Beijing, China, and then The News-Item, a sister newspaper to The Republican-Herald.