ABSTRACT
The rapid oil-price rise in the mid-1970s, combined with the disappointments of nuclear power, resulted in coal's making a much larger contribution to electricity supply in the United States and United Kingdom than was anticipated. This chapter examines coal-fired power plant siting and utilization activities in the United States and United Kingdom since 1970. The National Governor's Association has organized an electricity transmission task force to investigate ways to increase interregional power transfers and perhaps to call for the construction of additional transmission lines. The result of regional shifts in the long-term availability of coal, the ability to transmit electricity long distances, and the coupling of power plants to mines has led to the concentration of coal-fired electricity generation. In England and Wales the combined development of the national transmission grid system, with a more efficient means to supply power plants with coal, worked toward the comparative advantage of coalfield power plant sites.
