Linus Van Pelt
Sr. Member
Posts: 2,144
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« on: November 14, 2012, 09:42:34 PM » |
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« edited: November 14, 2012, 09:45:08 PM by The Head Beagle »
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There haven't been large-scale coal mines around Scranton for decades. The coal in the Northeastern PA "coal region" is anthracite coal, which was the type used historically for home heating, not for electricity generation, and so the mining industry here was basically killed by the spread of modern furnaces in the decades after WWII. There are a few small strip mines still since anthracite has some other industrial applications and some old buildings here and there have coal furnaces, but these uses aren't so affected by utilities' decisions to switch fuels. Basically Scranton and Wilkes-Barre are more like Butte, MT, where the industry left decades ago leaving behind an economic and environmental mess, and the area's fortunes are no longer tied to the mainstream coal industry.
The coal used in electricity generation is bituminous or sub-bituminous.
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