Panel Coordinators:

•	Steven Benson, Senior Research Manager, Energy & Environmental Research Center, Grand Forks, ND
•	Michael Jones, Senior Research Advisor, Energy & Environmental Research Center, Grand Forks, ND

Panel Moderator:
Steven Benson, Senior Research Manager, Energy & Environmental Research Center, Grand Forks, ND

Panelists:

•	Lynn Brickett, Project Manager, U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA
•	Hank Courtright, Vice President, Power Generation and Distributed Resources, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA
•	Claudia Miller, Technical Services Manager, Dakota Gasification Company, Beulah, ND
•	Harvey Ness, Director of Research and Development, Lignite Energy Council, Bismarck, ND

Coal is the opportunity fuel of the 21st century. With enough coal in the United States to last hundreds of years, this resource can provide clean and secure supplies of low-cost electricity, hydrogen, premium liquid fuels, and chemicals. Low-rank coals (lignite and subbituminous) comprise approximately half of both current use and U.S. reserves and are the largest indigenous energy resource in the United States, including Alaska, in Russia and Central Europe, and in much of the Pacific Rim. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Information Agency (2002), coal continues to be the largest source of electricity in the United States, accounting for 54% of generation in the electric power sector and 50% of total generation from all sources. Additional generating capacity of 19,000 MW will be needed annually between 2011 and 2025, and 40% of this capacity will come from coal.

In the United States, low-rank coals offer the lowest fuel cost for fossil-based electric generation, averaging about 10 mills/kWh in 2002, compared to 14 mills for bituminous coal and 26 mills for natural gas. In Australia, low-rank brown coal mined from 500-foot-thick seams is fired in minemouth electric power stations at a fuel cost of only about 2 mills/kWh, according to the Australian Cooperative Research Center. In the United States, the price of coal has declined by an average of 3.6% yearly since 1990, owing to increases in mine productivity averaging 5.9% annually (since 1980). Production of predominantly low-sulfur, low-rank coal in the western United States increased by 8.4% annually between 1970 and 2002 and continues to gain market share even after Phase 2 restrictions on sulfur emissions became effective in January 2000. Future utilization of low-rank coal faces major challenges including mercury and fine particulate emissions, mitigation of alkali-induced deposition and corrosion, minimization of process water requirements, CO₂ sequestration, application of more efficient and lower-cost combustion and gasification technologies, and the new vision of a hydrogen economy. The panelists discussed the future utilization of low-rank coals in light of these issues.