Coal Age

AUG 2012

Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.

Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/82345

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 117 of 205

1960-1969 April 1968 issue, Flowers was still skeptical. "There is some doubt about whether sulfur dioxide is a health hazard in the concen- trations encountered by the average per- son…Even though the health hazard is minimal or under normal conditions nonexistent, fuel users can expect continu- ing pressure to provide clean air. This pres- sure already is being reflected at some new power plants in the construction of tall stacks, up to 1,200 ft high, to disperse and dilute the sulfur oxides to an acceptable standard," Flowers wrote in the April edi- torial. Additional research, he and others felt, was what was really needed. As the year ended, wildcat strikes broke out following frustration over new con- tracts. Labor stoppages were more often than not reflections of frustration with UMWA policies and producer acceptance of them. Though demand was there, pro- duction fell to 545 million tons. Utility burn, however, continued to climb to approxi- mately 296 million tons that year, roughly 7.4% higher than 1967. Another bright spot were continuing high export levels, some 51 million tons in 1968. Japanese purchases of coking coal increased significantly as some 16 million tons was absorbed into the growing market. Coal was used to producing 63.6% of America's energy in 1968. And, in early 1969, plans were confirmed to continue con- structing large coal-fired power plants in the western U.S. to serve the region's grow- ing population. These included the 2,300 mw Navajo facility near Page, Ariz., and the 3,000 mw San Juan plant near Farmington, N.M. At the time, roughly 19,000 mw of power from a dozen power plants was either under construction or being consid- ered throughout eight western states. Additionally, the Basin Electric Power Cooperative was beginning to site new plants in Wyoming as efforts continued to develop the state's vast coal resources. Also, continuing a trend of oil compa- nies entering the coal sphere, in February, Coal Age reported on the plans of Ashland Oil to acquire or lease substantially all of the assets of Ayrshire Collieries Corp. With large reserves in the west and Illinois Basin, Ayrshire was a leader in the development of highly productive surface operations and the 11th largest overall producer in 1968. In May 1969, AEP formally dedicated stripping operations at the company's new mine near Zanesville, Ohio. Front and cen- ter was the Big Muskie walking dragline. Capable of taking 325-ton overburden bites, it was the largest mobile land machine ever built. Manufactured by Bucyrus-Erie, "the new giant can move more earth faster and farther than any machine of its type ever built. The machine's 240-ton bucket has a capacity of 220 cu yd. Its 325-ton load would more than fill three large 100 ton railroad hopper cars. In full operation Big Muskie could handle about 19,500 tons of material an hour, about 7,000 tons more than the towering machine actually weighed. The huge machine capped a dragline and shovel race that began in the 1950s as various surface producers ordered ever larger equipment capable of achieving successively greater efficiencies of scale." Also capping the decade, on November 20, Senate and House conferees agreed on a compromise version of the new Federal 114 www.coalage.com 100th Anniversary Special Issue August 2012

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Coal Age - AUG 2012