US Energy Policy and the Pursuit of Failure is an analytic history of American energy policy. For the past forty years, the US government has tried to develop comprehensive policies on energy, yet these efforts have failed repeatedly. These failures have not resulted from a lack of will or funds but rather from an inability to differentiate between what could be undertaken and what could actually be accomplished. This book explains how and why various policy efforts have come about, shows why politicians have been eager to back them, and analyzes why they have inevitably failed. Over the past four decades, US energy policy makers have pursued not just policies that have failed but also a policy process that leads to failure.

Utah’s coal industry experienced a difficult and tragic year in 2007. The terrible circumstances surrounding the unexpected closure of the Crandall Canyon mine, followed by the idling of the Aberdeen mine, resulted in a 7.1% decrease in Utah coal production to a total of 24.3 million short tons. These closures also resulted in a 5.3% loss in mine-related employment. In addition, difficult mining conditions at Canyon Fuel Company’s SUFCO and Dugout Canyon mines contributed to production declines. On the brighter side, Canyon Fuel’s Skyline mine, with a full-year of longwall operation, increased its production by 45.4% and UtahAmerican’s West Ridge mine increased its production by 34.3%. Also noteworthy are record production for both Carbon County and State lands, and a 20-year high in the average price for a short ton of Utah coal: $25.18. Distribution of Utah coal decreased slightly in 2007 to 24.5 million short tons, while out-of-state coal imports hit a 20-year low of only 1.5 million tons.