This year’s theme, the ACC said, highlighted the crucial part coal-based energy generation played in the US’s current and future needs.

Hosted by almost 150 member organisations of the ACC, CMS’05 will focus on the diverse issues that affect the industry market. The keynote speakers for the conference are Nick Carter, president of Natural Resource Partners, and Ingram Barge president Craig Philip. Both will speak at a CEO forum on October 14 along with Phil Saunders, senior vice president of operations for Southern Company Generation.

Activities slated for Wednesday include a pre-conference seminar entitled Permitting and Environmental Compliance for Electric Utilities and the annual conference golf tournament, as well as an opening reception.

Conference sessions including the CEO forum and discussions entitled Coal Markets: Changing Fundamentals and Utility Coal Business Management Issues will be held on Thursday. A luncheon address by Norman Shilling, product line leader for IGCC GE Power Systems, General Electric, will also be given on the company’s new “Ecoimagination” television advertisements and their tie-in with a movement for a “clean-coal” generation. The council’s annual membership business meeting will be conducted that evening.

On the final day of the conference, symposiums Environmental Compliance and Global Energy Markets will be held in the morning, with the adjournment of the conference following soon after.

While the council notes that the itinerary is preliminary and that times and presenters are subject to change, it promises a thought-provoking, insightful event that will allow various sectors to come together to listen to knowledgeable, excellent presenters on the key topics of today and tomorrow’s coal industry.