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Yet stripping has wreaked havoc on whole areas. In response to public outrage over the scarred and torn land. Congress seems to be close to passing a bill that would make strippers repair the ravaged earth after mining. Such reclamation works well in the rolling, well-watered countryside of Ohio and Pennsylvania, but is difficult in the arid West, and virtually impossible on the steep slopes of West Virginia and Kentucky. In the long run, however, only 5% of the U.S.'s immense reserves are strippable. The rest must be mined by men working in deep shafts.
The 125,000 working members of the U.M.W. are mostly men in either their 50s or their 20s. The middle generation is missing because between about 1950 and 1968, the coal industry did not hire new miners. Union President Miller vows that he will not only bargain fiercely for more pay (current average wage: $225 a week), but also let the coal companies know that "the pick and shovel days are over."
The large producers (see box) have already begun a massive switch to new technology to boost productivity. Many, too, have started training programs to teach miners to use such innovations as conveyor belts that turn corners in the labyrinthine mines and hydraulic supports to prop up mine roofs. Explains John Corcoran, president of Consolidation Coal Co.: "They used to say that a miner needed a strong back. Now he needs a good head more." Still, since the new machinery is costly, it will badly strain many of the nation's 1,200 mining companies, particularly the small ones with little capital to call upon.
BURNING IT. Coal is a dirty fuel. Made up of the carbonized remains of primeval plants that were buried in the earth for 250 million to 400 million years, it contains up to 36 chemical elements. When burned, many of these are released into the air as pollutants, the most harmful of which is sulfur. The Government has strict air-quality standards for every U.S. region. In eastern Ohio, for example, no coal with more than .6% sulfur will be burned after 1975.
The companies have combined with electric utilities and other industries to find ways to take the sulfur out of coal. Usually, this is done by sending coal gases through "scrubbers" at the bottom of tall smokestacks that contain a chemical solution to filter emissions.
The Southern Co., a holding company of utilities, is trying to extract sulfur not from smoke but from the coal itself. At a pilot plant near Birmingham, Southern dissolves coal with a recoverable chemical solvent. The coal is filtered to remove impurities and then resolidified. The final product is a clean fuel that has virtually no sulfur or ash and a very high heat value. Cost per ton promises to be competitive.
CONVERTING IT. Solid coal cannot power jetliners or cars, and the U.S. depends on liquid and gaseous fuels for two-thirds of its energy. Thus the key to coal's future is whether it can be converted into either synthetic oil or natural gas. It can be, but economical processes are yet to come.