Coal has had a lot of negative press in recent years. So much so that I was motivated to find out some facts.
What I discovered is that coal production supports thousands of jobs in B.C. and generates billions of dollars of revenue for our provincial economy every year. In fact, coal production is one of the main pillars of our B.C. economy and it provides over half of B.C.’s total revenue from mineral production. Coal is also B.C.’s single largest export commodity.
Moreover, between 70 to 90 per cent of B.C. coal is metallurgical coal used to make steel rather than thermal coal burned in the generation of electricity. The steel from metallurgical coal gives us the metal for everything from bikes, smart phones, eyeglasses and all the utensils and machines we use to make and eat food.
Coal may seem like a boring mineral commodity, but in economic terms it obviously punches way above its weight class for the people of B.C. and I am impressed by that.
Shane Perich, Coquitlam
