Coal, particularly Pennsylvania coal, has prominently figured in shaping the historic and economic profiles of both the nation and commonwealth.

From winning the American Revolution to advancing the Industrial Revolution, from fighting two world wars to serving as our best hedge against dependence on foreign energy, our political and industrial leaders repeatedly have turned to coal to help forge our war efforts and power the wheels of progress.

Throughout the years, coal has maintained its role as a primary energy source.Pennsylvania's 2006 coal production of 77 million tons ranks 4th among coal producing states.

Coal remains our most abundant and reliable source of electricity, accounting for 56 percent of Pennsylvania's electric generation — and about half of the nation's power output.It also is our most affordable resource, at a cost one-third that of natural gas and one-sixth that of oil.

Coal mining and the businesses that service the industry are significant contributors to the state's economy, totaling a combined direct and indirect gain of almost $11 billion per year.

With recoverable coal resources in Pennsylvania sufficient to last another 250 to 300 years, coal should continue to play a critical role in any blueprint for energy security.

However, for coal's potential to be fully realized, there needs to be a change in the public's perception of coal and a better understanding of how it is mined and used.In addition, policymakers must make more of an effort to ensure that environmental laws and regulations are balanced and based on sound science and common sense.

Here are a few steps that need to be taken in order to take full advantage of our coal resources.

First, we need to educate the public about the need for and use of coal. Outside the coalfields, coal's benefits as a low-cost, reliable source of electricity are largely invisible.As coal declined as a home heating fuel, it slipped from view.Today, coal has largely become an abstraction. (Unfortunately, few people know that coal generates the electricity that powers such daily actions as flipping a light switch or turning on a computer.)

Further, the general public seldom hears about the positive aspects of coal usage, just the trumped-up negatives exaggerated by a biased and misinformed media, or a militant environmental group with an agenda to ban coal by reinforcing false stereotypes of a bygone era.

Second, the active mining industry's operations need to be judged within the context of existing mining practices and technology and under the terms of current environmental regulations and mine safety and health standards.Advancements in technology combined with strict regulatory standards and a rigorous permitting process have allowed mining to proceed without posing long-term environmental effects.

Post-mining discharges from newly permitted mine sites have been virtually eliminated, and the active mining industry has taken the lead in reclaiming abandoned mine lands and abating old acid mine drainage at no cost to the commonwealth.

Most importantly, Pennsylvania operators individually and collectively have an excellent record of compliance with the mining laws and regulations while, by any standard of measurement, Pennsylvania mines are safer now than they ever have been.

Finally, environmental regulation must be balanced and driven by science and reason, not emotion and hyperbole. Everyone wants a "clean" environment but clean cannot be defined as pristine. While environmental protection should be on our priority list, it is not our only priority — and must be measured within the context of other priorities, like having affordable and reliable electricity and economic growth.

There is a disconnect in our system that is as confusing to the coal industry as it is illogical. We cannot pay for government-sponsored social programs, tax cuts or deficit reductions without a sound economy to provide the revenue.The availability of competitively priced electricity is a prerequisite for a sound economy.However, the more militant environmental agenda is specifically designed to limit or prohibit the development and use of our cheapest, most-abundant source of electricity. Our public policy is burdened by this inherent conflict.

Further, if we are going to extricate ourselves from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the federal government cannot continue the failed "borrow to spend" fiscal policies of the past — you simply cannot borrow your way out of debt. This would only fuel current economic volatility because it would increase the national deficit and expose us to additional debt payments.

A better and perhaps our only viable approach to an economic rescue is to allow and promote the exploitation of our nation's vast natural resource base currently controlled by federal, state and local government or those off-limits due to ill-conceived and unwarranted environmental constraints. The dollars generated to our government coffers would be virtually unlimited. All the while, significant job creation would occur along with a means to provide the most sound foundation to put our nation on a footing to at last become reasonably energy self-sufficient.

Perhaps it is time for a common-sense solution to what seems to be such a complex problem.

John Stilley, president of Amerikohl Mining, Inc., of Center Township, is a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Coal Association.

This article is from the preface of PCA's soon-to-be-published 2007 Pennsylvania Coal Data booklet, an annual publication that contains statistics and information about the commonwealth's bituminous coal industry.