Description
This Colorado coal directory describes and lists all the 18 active coal mines in the state as of November 2000. It contains information on each mine’s location, operating company, mine type, geology, coal quality, and coal production. It includes: an introduction, active or potentially active Colorado coal mines, electric generation in Colorado, and references. Also included is a map of coal production and distribution. 79 pages. 5 tables. 1 plate (1:1,000,000). Digital PDF download. IS-55D
A similar Colorado coal directory was published in 1978 (RS-03) along with an update in 2005 (IS-71).
Excerpt from the Introduction:
In 1999, coal was produced from nine of Colorado’s 63 counties: Delta, Fremont, Gunnison, La Plata, Mesa, Moffat, Montrose, Rio Blanco, and Routt. Routt County had the largest production of any other single county. The three largest producing mines, Foidel Creek (Twentymile), West Elk, and Colowyo, together accounted for over 70 percent of the state’s production.
Coal is the predominant fuel burned in steam electric generation plants. A total of 17,605,473 tons of coal were consumed by these plants in 1999, thus accounting for more than 81 percent of the total Colorado electric generation. About 55 percent of the coal was mined in Colorado, whereas 45 percent was obtained from mines in Wyoming.
Information was collected from representatives at each coal mine in early 2000. Individual power plants were also contacted concerning coal consumption. Additional sources include official coal production data and mine map information from the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology, coal distribution and electric plant consumption from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) of the Department of Energy, the Office of Surface Mining, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the State Board of Land Commissioners.
