Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991                   TAG: 9102270079
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CLEAN AIR MAY ADD MINING JOBS/ SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA SHOULD GAIN AS LAW BOOSTS

The report predicts that demand for the state's low-sulfur coal could grow from 1 million to 5 million tons because of the new law. Total job growth, including jobs supported by mining, could be 900 to 9,200. The study, released Tuesday, was conducted for the state's coal industry by Tom Hewson of Energy Ventures Analysis Inc. of Arlington.

The impact of the law, Hewson said, has to be depicted as a range and cannot be pinpointed. That's because as little as a 25-cent-per-ton change in the price of coal could alter a utility's decision to use scrubbers rather than low-sulfur coal to meet the law's provisions, Hewson said. Rail rates also play a role, he said.

The Central Appalachian region will see demand for low-sulfur coal grow by 10 million to 40 million tons because of the Clean Air Act. Price factors will decide how much of that growth Virginia will share, he said.

Virginia should benefit most from the law during its first phase, which becomes effective in 1995, because later phases require lower-sulfur coals than the state has available, Hewson said.

Under the new law, utilities must reduce their sulfur-dioxide emissions to meet a national goal of a 10 million tons less by 2000.

The law allows utilities to use technology or switch to lower-sulfur coal to meet its requirements. Hewson said some Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic utilities that burn high-sulfur coal will switch fuel rather than install scrubbers.

In 1989, the latest year for which figures are available, 43 million tons of coal were mined in Virginia by 10,300 miners.