June 26, 2013 -- Coal is an essential American energy resource. Our use of coal leads to much lower electricity rates, increases U.S. energy security and boosts American competitiveness on the world stage. Just as importantly, coal is far cleaner today than it was a few decades ago, with traditional emissions down more than 80 percent per unit of coal consumed. It’s also important to point out that the industry is taking significant steps to make coal more climate-friendly, although the technologies that will ultimately cut coal-related carbon emissions to near-zero are not commercially available yet. Until they are, we believe that pushing greenhouse gas regulations forward too far and too fast would be a mistake – one that would cost American jobs and put our fragile economic recovery at risk. Instead, we encourage the President to press ahead with his commitment to establish mechanisms that will encourage the rapid development of advanced coal technologies and, in doing so, seek to make America a leader in supplying such technologies to increasingly coal-dependent economies around the globe.