And the US Energy Information Administration claims - we might say reports - that on an energy-content basis United States coal production peaked in 1998 (at least to date). See

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/overview.html, Table 1.2

My compilation "Who's talking about the peaking of world oil production" compilation also contains some telling quotes on the coal situation as well as noting that the U.S. is rapidly losing its status as a net coal exporter, imports having tripled since 2000, exports having declined markedly. See

http://globalpublicmedia.com/whos_talking_about_peak_oil

The EIA figures show an undulating plateau for the energy derived from coal for over a decade. Their production figures, for the first 11 months of 2007 show a marked decline (in quantity) over the first 11 months of 2006, which, from a quick scan, could be the first decline in recent times. It could be that the Energy Watch group was right. And yet even a lot of peak oilers continue to trot out the "250 years of coal" mantra. I wonder why.