Coal Legislation :: essays research papers

blackenCoal is a fossil fuel- hydrocarbon containing natural resource, much like vegetable oil or natural gas. It is extracted from the Earth by strip digging or underground mining. It is a readily combustible black sedimentary rock, which is ane of the three main rock categories. Coal is composed of carbon and hydrocarbons, in coordination with other elements. It is the leading source of electricity the human beings over. It is estimated that half of the worlds electricity is powered by coal.Coal mining in the United States is showed to have first occurred in Virginia when 50 stacks were purged from the earth in 1748 (coaleducation.org). Today, all of the states with coal deposits have produced coal at one point in Americas history as America produces over one billion tons of coal per year. akin(predicate) to the cash crops of cotton and tobacco, the business of coal mining has greatly do the historical development of the Unites States in terms of economic growth, technolog ical advancements, planetary recognition and even physical enlargement. The mining of coal was one of the draws that enticed Americans to go away west and expand the United States. US coal production has reached record levels, but not all coal producing States have shared in this growth. The peak coal production in some States occurred many decades ago, whereas in other States the coal industry has been revitalized in recent times. These changes mull shifts in the use of coal over the years. The legislation pertaining to coal issues has realised many aspects of American life including Manifest Destinys expansion westward, the federal ownership of coal soils, mine safety and health, labor issues and at last pollution and social responsibility (bydesign.com)Coal lands in the public battleground were governed by special legislation and were not subject to the same business of location as hard rock and petroleum deposits, according to universal time government archives. In 1866 , Congress decreed that coal bed land be sold to the highest bidder at $20 an acre. In 1873, Congress throttle purchase amounts to 160 acres for individuals, 320 for associations, and 640 for associations who had already spent at to the lowest degree $5,000 in improving a coal mine. In doing so, Congress paved a path for railroad companies to own coal land in Utah, which provided a lucrative mixture of business ventures. This also marked the snuff it of federal coal land ownership legislation and the introduction of mining camps, which would later incite health and safety legislation (archives.