Recent declines in the use of coal in the domestic steel industry and in export markets make that dependence even greater. Since that time, coal use has steadily grown in the electric utility sector and declined in the residential and commercial sector, in the transportation sector and among coke plants and other industrial users. Because of the dominance of the electric utility demand, the viability of the coal industry is linked to the ability of the electric utility industry to continue to burn coal. This is more than double the share of any other fuel source. This reliance on coal-based electricity generation results from an abundance of supply and low costs.
Some states are even more dependent on coal for electricity generation.
The largest states in terms of generation of electricity from coal are Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Together these five states account for nearly one-third of national electricity production from coal. Coal and the Environment Coal use has grown steadily over the last 30 years. When the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, U.S. electric utilities burned 320 million tons of coal. At the same time, emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides from the electric utility sector have declined substantially.