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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2001

CALIFORNIA CRISIS COULD BE A DRESS REHEARSAL FOR FUTURE WORRIES, NMA CHIEF WARNS: CITES COAL AS ANSWER TO AMERICA'S IMPENDING ENERGY PROBLEMS

Columbus, OH -- "The reliability and adequacy of the national power supply may soon be at risk – too little supply and too much requirement," warns National Mining Association President and Chief Executive Officer Jack N. Gerard. In a speech yesterday before the Ohio Society of Mining Engineers, Gerard explained the importance of coal in sound energy policy and the industry's hopes for avoiding a nation-wide energy crisis.

"There's a building sense that California's time of trouble may be a dress rehearsal for the next national melodrama," Gerard said. "California has showed us that without power at the right time, in the right places and at the right prices, everything either slows down or goes down."

"Good energy policy can neither neglect nor penalize coal," said Gerard. Coal is America's largest source of non-imported energy – 40 percent of all domestic fossil production; 95 percent of all reserves.

Gerard explained how affordable, reliable, coal is already coming to the aid of Californians in dire need of energy. "California would not be in crisis today if they hadn't foreclosed on coal in days gone by," Gerard explained, "but the California crisis is not worse because Los Angeles relies on and shares millions of tons of coal by wire – billions of kilowatt hours generated elsewhere in the West – and because coal-fired power plants in the mountain states have raised output to send power westward."

Gerard said the future of sound energy policy should take into consideration both cost and the need for a diversity of fuels. Gerard cited nuclear energy, hydro-electricity, natural gas, and petroleum as all having major roles to play in America's energy market, but added "coal will always be America's margin of reliability. Coal is the nation's first line reserve of electric power – with nearly 275 billion tons of reserves."

With rising electricity prices, coal's affordability also makes it in attractive energy source.

"Coal-fired power typically has come at less than one-half the cost of gas or oil," Gerard said. At current prices, coal power is about one-fifth the cost of natural gas.

"America will require as much as 45 percent more electric power on the next 20 years, and the growth is underway now," said Gerard encouraging support for the National Electricity and Environmental Technology Act (NEET). The NEET bill encourages use of a number of technologies that will cut down on air emissions, and deliver power more efficiently. "Steps taken this year could well guarantee the future of coal and the reliability of America's electric power supply for the next 20 years," Gerard said.

The U.S. mining industry produces coal, metals, building materials, and many other essential minerals that define the daily lives of 281 million Americans. The mining industry generates over $500 billion in total economic benefit each year and helps to sustain nearly 5 million U.S. jobs.