HARRISBURG - One of the foremost authorities on Illinois coal spoke about the future of coal mining Thursday evening at Southeastern Illinois College.

Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals Director Joe Angleton delivered a brief history on Illinois coal, which he said has been a "major player" in the economy for the last 150-plus years. He spoke of the formation of his state department as a regulatory agency in 1917 and pointed out some of the worst mine disasters ever, including one in Centralia in 1947 and one at Orient 2 in West Frankfort in 1951 that resulted in hundreds of deaths.

"With prosperity and the good jobs also came some hard times," Angleton said.

By the late 1970s, he said, there were 71 active mines in the state. Today, that total has dwindled to 21 with 33 million tons of coal produced a year. But those numbers may soon be on the rise as more and more coal companies are sprouting up - some with a helping hand from the state.

Thursday's energy symposium was the second in a "Connecting with the Future of Energy" series sponsored by Connect Southern Illinois and the SIUC Coal Research Center.

Joining Angleton for a panel discussion were: Butch Oldham, international safety representative with the United Mine Workers of America, who spoke about mine safety; Sam Spearing, associate professor with the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources Engineering at SIUC, speaking on future technologies in mining; Allen Costello, senior geologist with the Illinois Mine Subsidence Insurance Fund, speaking on mine subsidence; David Colombo, mining technology instructor with the Applied Science and Technology Division at Rend Lake College, speaking on training the next generation of miners; and Robert Reynolds, director of project development for Peabody Energy, on power plants and the competitive advantages of coal.

"The largest recoverable bituminous coal base is in Illinois," Angleton said. "It's a base larger than any two states combined in the nation. We have to make good use of that resource. But one of the problems is that the coal industry has never done a very good job of promoting itself. That has to change."

Angleton said America needs to be less dependent on foreign oil and become more dependent on energy sources such as coal.

"I believe that Illinois should be an exporter of electricity," he said.

SIUC Coal Research Center Director John Mead, who was heavily involved in organizing the panel of speakers, said he was pleased with the turnout.

"It was a good panel with some diverse opinions and serious commentary. There were also a lot of good questions from the audience. It's the kind of interaction I was hoping to see."

Mead said the idea of the "Connecting with the Future of Energy" series is to convey some of the complex topics in an interesting yet informative way.

"We wanted a couple of hours of intensive discussion," he said. "I think both the audience and our panel learned from tonight's discussion."

john.homan@thesouthern.com

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