[trane250]

Some here in Fairbanks still run a coal stove on cold days and it stands out powerfully. Most have made other arrangements to avoid the embarrassment of emitting that sweet aroma all over the hillside and a mile away down the valley. There are worse things. Wood is best.

I understand that Alaska has 3 billion tons of anthracite coal- the coal that burns with a blue flame like natural gas and has very little sulfur content. That sickly sweet smell says that they're burning soft coal in Fairbanks.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Hmmmn.

Alaska ever put out those (natural) burning fires up in the Yukon area that have been burning for thousands of tons of coal every year for tens of thousands of years ...

[thackney]

I understand that Alaska has 3 billion tons of anthracite coal

Alaska has a lot of coal, but not anthracite quality.

The majority of the Alaskan coal is lignite, sub-bituminous and bituminous. A few years ago, estimates of Alaska's coal resources placed them at approximately 130 billion tons. Now, largely because of better knowledge about the coal beneath the North Slope and the offshore area beyond, the estimates range from 1,860 billion to 5,000 billion tons.

Alaska Science Forum, Alaska's Coal Article #492
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF4/492.html
June 26, 1981

Largely untapped, hypothetical coal resources of Alaska are estimated to be as much as 5,500 billion short tons.

The Cretaceous coal resources, generally of bituminous and lignite rank, are found mainly in the Northern Alaska-North Slope coal province with 120 billion short tons of identified resources and 3,200 billion short tons of undiscovered or hypothetical resources. Minor Tertiary lignite and subbituminous coal resources are found in the Northern Alaska-North Slope coal province with 670 billion short tons of undiscovered or hypothetical resources.

Most of the Tertiary coal resources, mainly lignite to subbituminous with minor bituminous and semianthracite, are in the Central Alaska-Nenana and Southern Alaska-Cook Inlet coal provinces with as much as 1,600 billion short tons of identified and undiscovered or hypothetical resources. Identified Tertiary coal resources in these two provinces are as much as 19,300 million short tons.

Alaska Coal Resources and Coalbed Methane Potential
U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2198
http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2198/B2198-508.pdf
February 6, 2003

[RightWhale]

That sickly sweet smell says that they're burning soft coal in Fairbanks.

Anthracite is too valuable to burn in household furnaces. The stuff we get here is better than bituminous but has a lot of clay content.