America's energy picture with regards to electrical generation has, for some years, been moving towards less coal and more natural gas, nuclear, and even "green" sources. That's not a bad thing, at least not where natural gas and nuclear are concerned. Both of those sources are higher energy density and cleaner than coal.
But modern coal plants can be pretty clean, and we are still dependent on coal for about 15 percent of our electricity. Fortunately the United States has coal and to spare. In the most recent development on that front, the United States Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) has essentially approved an expansion at North Dakota's Falkirk Mine that is expected to be very productive indeed.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, or OSMRE, today announced a Finding of No Significant Impact and approval of a mining plan modification for the Falkirk Mine in McLean County, North Dakota to incorporate Revision 40. The decision authorizes recovery of an additional 1.74 million tons of federal coal, supporting domestic energy security, and reinforcing grid stability while upholding rigorous environmental safeguards.
The modification to the mining plan allows Falkirk Mine to expand operations on federal coal reserves under lease NDM 111489. OSMRE and the Bureau of Land Management jointly prepared an environmental assessment, concluding the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. The decision supports responsible coal development while maintaining strong environmental protections under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
15 percent of the nation's generation capacity is nothing to shake a stick at, and there's a power plant nearby with considerable capacity, ready to take in the increased production.
Coal produced at Falkirk Mine directly supports Coal Creek Station, North Dakota’s largest power plant, which is capable of generating 1.2 gigawatts of electricity—enough to power roughly 900,000 homes for a year. Falkirk Mine is also a major source of employment in McLean County, providing more than 400 full-time jobs.
The "all of the above" approach looks like this. Coal is still a reliable fuel, far more reliable, not to mention constant, than solar and wind power. It's not necessarily tomorrow's technology with which to solve today's problems, especially given that natural gas and, more to the point, nuclear power are increasingly the options of choice in the United States. Even so, coal is expected to be part of the picture for some time to come. There are, at present, 212 operating coal plants in the United States; the most recent new coal-fired power plant is the Eielson Air Force Base Central Heat & Power Plant near Fairbanks, Alaska, which went online in 2025 with 30 megawatts of capacity. That's a modest operation, but the last large coal-fired plant to go online was the Sandy Creek Energy Station near Waco, Texas. That plant was completed in 2013, and is at the moment offline until sometime in 2027 due to a "major failure."
Coal is going to be around for a while yet, and the United States has a lot of coal, and as the saying goes, it ain't doing anyone any good sitting in the ground. Mine, baby, mine!
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