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What is coal?

  • a nonrenewable source of energy
  • a fossil fuel in the earth and in mountains that has been squished and pressured and heated over millions of years
  • a burnable sedimentary rock
  • has high amount of carbon and hydrocarbons

Where do we get coal?

  • 17 coal plants in Texas to include Fayette Power process the coal
  • Texas burns more coal than any other state in the US
  • Fayette Power gets most of its coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, which is owned by the US Department of the Interior
  • at Powder River Basin, huge equipment removes the topsoil, carves land into roads, shovels up the coal and moves soil and rocks from those mountains into pits
  • Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads bring coal from Powder River to Texas  

How does coal generate electricity?

  • coal is burned to generate steam
  • steam flows into a turbine
  • the turbine spins a generator to create electricity
  • the steam is cooled, returned to its water form
  • the process starts over with another batch of coal