Coal Made America An Industrial Powerhouse and Has A Future. China Knows It. We Must Remember, Too!

Guest Post by Peter Murphy of CFact.

Traveling 250 feet below the surface can be an unsettling feeling, yet it was an invaluable glimpse into what made America an economically prosperous nation and a world power by the late 19^th century.

Coal mining remains essential to expand that prosperity to the developing world, even as the international climate movement demands poor nations “leapfrog” over fossil fuel energy sources to phantom “renewable” energy.

This past weekend, during the CFACT “eco-summit”, CFACT collegians from throughout the country toured the Lackawanna Coal Mine on the edge of Scranton Pennsylvania, in the northeast quadrant of the commonwealth. The mine operated for just over a century until it closed in 1966 as other energy sources made it economically impractical to continue.

This coal mine has since become a tourist attraction and a history lesson, in many ways harsh and tragic, as America’s industrial development progressed through the 19^th century. Coal mines in the late 1800s were dark and dangerous and employed children as young as ten years old. Nationwide, the number of annual coal mining deaths peaked at 3,242 in 1907 and remained above 1,000 annually until the mid-1940s.

Such conditions led to many labor reforms of the early and mid-20^th century, including restricting child labor and improving pay and working conditions. A key figure in bettering mining conditions was John L. Lewis, who led the United Mine Workers of America for 40 years until 1960. Coal mining deaths rapidly dropped below 100 annually following the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, when mining became a federally regulated industry. Since 2014, there have annually been between 5 and 16 coal mining deaths.

The Lackawanna Coal Mine produced anthracite coal, which is peculiar to the northeast region of Pennsylvania. Anthracite is considered “hard” coal in that it burns slower and produces more heat than more abundant bituminous coal. It also has fewer impurities and burns more cleanly.

Today, coal energy remains a vital source of electricity and power generation and is integral to the economies of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and several other states, despite the climate change cottage industry’s attempts to eliminate it. Indeed, coal production in Pennsylvania and nationally has declined significantly, notwithstanding an estimated 7 billion short tons of anthracite coal deposits in the Keystone State’s northeast region.

Coal mining began in Pennsylvania around the 1740s and peaked nearly 200 years later in the 20^th century as oil took on greater use. This century-long decline continues. By 2001, Pennsylvania produced 74 million short tons of coal; by 2020, that volume declined by half to 36 million tons. At present, there are about 40 coal mines active in the state, while 5,000 are abandoned.

Nationally the story is similar. U.S. coal production peaked in 2008 with 1.2 billion short tons produced. By 2023, production dropped to 578 million short tons, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, which estimates a decline to below 500 million this year.

As with oil production ascending by the 20^th century, natural gas from hydrofracturing has brought about less demand for and reliance on coal.

Even so, coal mining on a global scale remains essential to expanding affordable energy and turning poverty-stricken nations to a growing middle-class standard of living. Since 2020, U.S. coal exports have nearly doubled from 15 million short tons to almost 28 million estimated for this year, though still a modest level compared to nationwide coal production.

Meanwhile, China’s coal production continues to rise annually to 4.7 billion short tons in 2023 and growing in 2025, which places the Middle Kingdom in a strong position to fuel its industries and the developing world, which has ominous strategic implications for the U.S.

Nonetheless, as a fossil fuel emitter of carbon dioxide, coal is deemed the great Satan to the modern-day climate change imperialists at the United Nations, World Bank, and non-governmental organizations who work out of first-world air-conditioned office buildings and university campuses.

Even though the United States and Europe became economically prosperous, first from coal and more so today from oil and natural gas, climate bureaucrats and no-nothing professors and activists demand developing nations “leapfrog” traditional, abundant sources of energy to install wind turbines and solar panels to meet their “net-zero” carbon goals over the next 25 years. Such sources barely register in the developed world and are inadequate and costly. Yet, climate elites want them imposed on poorer nations desperate to raise their own living standards. During the UN Climate Summit in Dubai in 2023, CFACT attacked this modern-day colonialist policy.

America’s becoming an industrial powerhouse with improved standards of living, combined with its ascension as a global economic and military power, in many ways began with coal production. It also came at a great cost before labor and regulatory reforms took hold. While underground at the eco-summit, CFACT collegians learned a piece of history that reminded us our nation owes a debt of gratitude to coal miners, especially the thousands who lost their lives as the U.S. emerged as a more prosperous nation for succeeding generations.

Peter Murphy is Senior Fellow at CFACT. He has researched and advocated for a variety of policy issues, including education reform and fiscal policy, both in the non-profit sector and in government in the administration of former New York Governor George Pataki.

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