ABSTRACT
Coal, like oil arid natural gas, is a fossil fuel. However, unlike oil and natural gas which were formed from the remains of plants and animals, coal was formed from plant residues alone. Naturally-occurring coking coal is bituminous; however, only a small percentage of bituminous coal has the necessary constituents to be a coking coal. The basic geological knowledge collected arid analyzed up to date of a resource report usually influences the estimated size of coal resources. Colorado has an estimated bituminous and sub-bituminous coal reserve base of about 14.9 billion tons. One important distinction between grades of coal is the difference between coking, and noncoking. In the West, coal production has increased substantially because: shortages and high costs of alternative fuels are forcing many powerplants across the country to convert to coal; and air quality concerns are causing coal consumers to turn from their traditional sources with high sulfur content to the low sulfur coals found in the West.
