UQ Coal in the Commonwealth Study: Points to the Future of Coal in Australia

BRISBANE, Australia, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continued robust use of
coal and broad deployment of clean coal technologies is crucial for
Australia's energy and economic future, according to a multi-disciplinary
study released today by The University of Queensland (UQ): "Coal and the
Commonwealth." Coal has shaped Australia's history and is essential to its
prosperity, creating 20 percent of the nation's mineral wealth, 81 percent of
its electricity and the largest coal export platform in the world.

The study is edited by UQ Professors Peter Knights and Michael Hood and
presents findings of UQ experts from a number of disciplines including
Mechanical and Mining Engineering, Chemical Engineering, History and
Economics. Commissioned by Peabody Energy, the study analyses the historical,
social and economic contribution of Australia's coal and outlines the
importance of Australia's leadership in advancing carbon technologies.

"It is important to recognise coal's important relationship with Australia,"
said Professor Knights. "By providing information on coal from the history of
Captain Cook's Endeavour to the progress toward carbon capture and storage,
the study promotes informed and balanced discussion at a critical time of
public debate."

"Australia's coal drives the next generation of improved lifestyles, economic
stimulus and technology advancement toward near-zero emissions," said Peabody
Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce. "Coal has
transformed society over hundreds of years by fueling industrial revolutions
and digital economies. It's the pride of Australia's past, and the pride of
its future."

Key highlights of the study include:

-- Coal is the world's most abundant fuel, with trillions of tons of
reserves worldwide. Australia has more than 260 years of high quality
reserves, a resource that will outlast oil and natural gas by
centuries.
-- Coal resources are widely available around the world, overcoming
concerns about energy security that are often expressed about oil and
gas, where global resources are concentrated in the politically
unstable
Middle East and Russia. Coal has been the world's fastest-growing fuel
in each of the past six years.
-- The world will continue to rely on coal for electricity generation,
with
coal forecast to continue to fuel a significant portion of the world's
power generation (up to 38 percent) by 2015. China and India will lead
this growth, which is expected to account for more than 50 percent of
world coal growth. Australia is advantaged to fuel these needs using
its enormous reserves and strong infrastructure.
-- Access to affordable electricity, largely fuelled by coal, has lifted
people to a better quality of life for the past 300 years. This
occurred
during the Industrial Revolution in England in the 18th century and is
continuing on an unprecedented scale in the 21st century as hundreds
of
millions of people gain access to electricity for the first time.
More
than half the world's population still has inadequate access to
electricity, and coal is the only fuel with the scale to alleviate
energy poverty.
-- Coal was the first fuel discovered and produced in Australia and is
the
nation's most important commodity for domestic use and international
trade. In 2008-2009, coal delivered A$55 billion in export revenues
and
an estimated A$4 billion in state royalties and taxes. Australia has
exported coal since 1798.
-- The Australian coal industry employs over 32,000 people and indirectly
creates an additional 126,000 jobs in Queensland and New South Wales.
As a result of coal production in 2008-2009, household disposable
income
grew by nearly 7 percent in Queensland and 6 percent in New South
Wales.
-- Proven and probable coal seam gas reserves in Queensland are larger
than
the liquefied natural gas reserves off the west coast of Australia.
With more than A$18 billion of projects in planning, coal seam gas has
the potential to be a major industry for Australia.
-- Australia led the creation of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage
Institute which has a mandate to facilitate development of 20
integrated, industrial-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration
projects worldwide by 2020. The Australian Government is hosting the
Institute and is providing A$100 million annually to fund the effort.
-- Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is globally recognised as an
essential
technology for meeting low emission coal targets.

-- Australia is a global leader in developing clean coal technologies and
is advancing solutions to address concerns about climate. Investments
in research recently surpassed A$250 million, while 12 CCS
demonstration
programs in the country are valued in excess of A$1 billion.

"Australia has the equivalent of hundreds of years of coal. It produces some
of the best quality coal in the world and is acknowledged as a global leader
in advancing low emissions solutions through the development of carbon capture
and storage technologies," said Professor Knights.

"UQ is a world authority in mining and engineering research and is working
with industry to progress solutions such as carbon capture and storage and
coal seam gas to develop and support an environmentally sustainable future for
coal in Queensland."

The Paris-based International Energy Agency is calling for 100 large-scale
global carbon capture projects by 2020, each trapping at least a million tons
of carbon dioxide per year and the Obama Administration has called for broad
deployment of carbon technologies in as little as eight to 10 years.

"We will use more coal and we will use it cleanly," said Mr. Boyce. "We'll
continue to develop and deploy low emissions technology."

Professor Michael Hood has Bachelor of Science degrees in both mechanical
engineering and mining engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
UK and a Ph.D from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He spent
15 years as a faculty member at the University of California Berkeley and
joined The University of Queensland (UQ) in 1993 when he was appointed as the
CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment, a
joint venture partially funded by the Commonwealth Government involving five
Australian Universities and nine mining companies and mining equipment
suppliers. Until January 2009 he was Head of the Mining Program at UQ and
remains a full Professor in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at
UQ.

Professor Peter Knights is BMA Chair of Mining Engineering and Head of the
Division of Mining Engineering of the School of Mechanical and Mining
Engineering at The University of Queensland. Professor Knights spent four
years in Canada and nine years in Chile as the Canadian chair of Mining
Engineering at the Catholic University of Chile (in Santiago). He took over
the leadership of the Mining Program at the UQ from Professor Hood at the
start of this year.

Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) is the world's largest private-sector coal company,
with 2008 sales of 255 million tons and US$6.6 billion in revenues. Its coal
products fuel 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and 2 percent of
worldwide electricity. Peabody Energy Australia shipped 24 million tons of
thermal and metallurgical coal in 2008 from 10 operations in Queensland and
New South Wales and the company seeks to double its Australia production over
the next five years. The company also trades and markets coal globally from
offices in Brisbane and Newcastle.

CONTACT
Peabody Energy
Beth Sutton
1-928-699-8243
bsutton@peabodyenergy.com

Electronic versions of the Executive Summary and Prologue and the full Coal
and the Commonwealth study are available from EAIT.UQ.edu.au and
PeabodyEnergy.com.

SOURCE Peabody Energy

Beth Sutton of Peabody Energy, +1-928-699-8243, bsutton@peabodyenergy.com