Coal is no longer king in Ohio though oil and natural gas remain economic royalty in the state.
Statistics compiled by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geological Survey show that 8.2 million tons of coal were extracted from Ohio in 2019, the last year for which figures are available. And though that may seem statistically significant, even more acute is how the number represents a nearly 15 percent decline from 2018 figures.
Put another way, Ohio now employs only 771 coal miners and just 209 non-production employees. In fact, the Natural Resources Department issued one one underground-mine expansion operation permit in 2019 and no surface mining expansion permit. No new permits were issued for either form of coal mining, the Natural Resources Department says.
“You are correct about coal, it has been on a remarkable decline since the recent high sales mark around 2010-2011,” said Christopher Wright, geologist with the Survey Division.
“The recent trend in coal fired power generating plants closing across Ohio is directly the cause of the collapse of the Ohio coal industry. With no other sources of buyers the coal has become uneconomic to mine here in Ohio,” Wright said.
Wright said Ohio’s soft coal is really designed for use in coal-fired power plants; long considered the dirtiest of the dirty energy-producing methods. This is in contrast to other, more expensive, grades of coal that is used in the production of coke, employed in the steel-making industry, Wright said.
“There is also an oversupply of this steam coal in the market due to regional mines trying to stay open and selling their coal at very low levels to the few remaining coal fired power plants, “which then in some cases out-competes Ohio coal producers, forcing them to close their mines,” Wright said.
More broadly, Wright says, that Ohio’s so-called “economic geology” derived income generated in 2019 totaled $8.8 billion, or about $750 per every Ohioan.
More than 10,000 people were employed in Ohio’s mineral extraction industry made up not only of coal mining but also limestone-dolomite, sand and gravel, salt, sandstone, shale, clay, natural gas, and oil.
Indeed, much more limestone (71 million tons), sand and gravel (34,2 million tons) were mined in Ohio in 2019 than was coal, Wright pointed out.
As for natural gas, 2.6 trillion cubic feet were removed as was 27.7 million barrels of oil. The values were $5.8 billion, and $1.5 billion, respectively, the Natural Resources figures indicate.
And as for the salt, the largest extractions occur at two underground mines: The one at Lake County’s Fairport Harbor-Grand River Village started operations in 1956 and the other at Cleveland and which began in 1957. Each of these mines operate at a depth of around 2,000 feet below the level of Lake Erie, Wright said.
“A lot of Ohioans don’t even know those two mines exist,” Wright said.
In all, Ohio’s salt mines operate in five counties and extracted nearly 3.9 million tons of material, used chiefly in road de-icing but also in animal feed, cattle salt blocks, and as a water-softening agent. The total value of salt sold in Ohio in 2019 was nearly $207 million.
Wright did say that 2020’s figures for all of these mineral extractions may prove anomalies once those numbers are “buttoned up” around July, double checked and a report issued around this November.
“I’m curious to see how all of these numbers will appear as a result of the (COVID) pandemic,” Wright said.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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