The study, "Can Coal Deliver? America's Coal Potential and Limits", provides research and analysis of the key supply and production issues confronting America's coal industry.

Larry Metzroth, vice-president of coal advisory services at Global Energy Decisions, said America's growing coal demands required substantial investment in coal infrastructure and technology to overcome the constraints of coal supply, production capacity and deliverability.

“At the same time as the demand for coal is growing to meet America's fuel diversity and supply needs, we are also focused on expanding our use of clean coal technology to address emissions and global warming concerns. This will trigger a new era of coal supply chain investment,” Metzroth said.

Key issues in the study are as follows:

US coal production may have to increase by as much as 4% per year for the next 20 years to achieve fuel diversity objectives and to meet expected demand from power generators;

Can the coal industry deliver? (Given lack of investment in infrastructure, lack of trained personnel, and the regional differences in gaining cost-effective access to coal);

The study recommends that the US updates its analysis of coal reserves to estimate the demonstrated reserve base;

The study recommends an investment in coal infrastructure. It says America needs to spend more, faster, to regain the full productive capacity of its coal reserves;

Even as the country becomes more concerned about the implications of global warming, the demand for coal is rising, adding pressure for investment in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and other new technology to enable clean coal utilisation. This has a dramatic effect on coal blends and deliverability; and

There is growing demand for coal, but also growing competition between coal, gas and nuclear power as the baseload resource of choice for the future. Coal investment, technology, deliverability and potential must reassure investors that coal is a viable choice for it to maintain its market share lead for the future.

The study will be released on July 31, 2006. A study prospectus is available via download at: http://www.globalenergy.com/coalstudy.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, Global Energy says it has over 400 customer relationships worldwide with the industry's leading market participants.