THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF MISSOURI 479 
 
creased supplies of natural gas. from outside the State. 
 Bituminous coal output was down slightly, but increased demand seemed likely
for new and expanded coal-fired steam power-plants in the State. The favorable
outlook was clouded somewhat by uncertainties about the~ effect of recently
imposed restrictions on sulfur content of coal used by installations of less
than utility size in the St. Louis metropolitan area and the prospects for
further restrictions in other parts of the State. 
 
 Coal.—Ground was broken for Empire Electric Co.'s minemouth powerplant
and The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. (P & M) Barton County
coalfield in joint ceremonies September 15, 1967. The 200,000-kilowatt powerplant
will be built near Asbury in Jasper County, and is scheduled to begin operations
in June 1970. The P & M strip mine will be just across the Japanese-Barton
County line in Barton County where P & M holds "substantial reserves"
of coal. The company will provide 750,000 tons of coal per year to generate
steam for the turbine-generator at the powerplant. Water for the boilers
will come from deep wells at the plant site and will be recirculated through
a system of condensers and cooling towers to provide maximum economy and
minimum consumption of water. Approximately 172 million gallons of water
per day will pass through the condensers, but only a fraction of this water
will be consumed. The aquifier tapped by the wells is the Roubidoux Formation.
Electrostatic precipitators will catch particulate pollutants, and flue gases
will vent through a stack 400 feet high. 
 
 
Table 19.—Coal (bituminous) production 
(Thousand short tons and thousand dollars) 
 
Year 
Quantity 
Value 
1963                   
3,174 
$13,196 
1964                   
1965                   
1966                   
3,254 
3,564 
3,582 
13,285 
14,779 
14,834 
1967                   
3,696 
15,573 
 The 150,000-kilowatt Thomas Hill steam-generating plant in Randolph County
was dedicated by Associated Electric Cooperative of Springfield, Mo., on

July 16, 1967. The project was already 
expanding by addition of a second generating unit which will more than double
the plant's current output to 400,000 kilowatts. Peabody Coal Co. will supply
coal to the facility by rail from its BeeVeer mine, Macon County, which is
capable of supplying 1.5 million tons annually. Cooling water for the generators
will be supplied at a rate of 25,000 gallons per minute from the 4,5O0~-acre
Thomas Hill reservoir. 
 Peabody Coal Co. moved the Tebo mine operation in Henry County to a new
tract of several hundred acres near Calhoun. Operations had been north of
the city since the field was opened in 1958. Two high-grade coal beds, with
a combined thickness of 42. inches, were being rained in tandem. Production
was expected to average 2,500 to 3,000 tons per day for 1½ years—about
double the rate for 1966 at the old location. All coal will continue to be
trucked about 30 miles to the Kansas City Power & Light Co. plant at
Montrose in southeastern Henry County. 
 
Petroleum and Natural Gas.—Drilling in 
1967 in Missouri resulted in 58 wells, according to the Missouri Geological
Survey. The total comprised 15 oil wells, ii dry holes, and 32 service wells.
New wells last year totaled 85, with 39 new oil wells and two new gas wells.

 According to Missouri Geological Survey, 146 producing wells (as of yearend

1967) produced 75,000 barrels of oil in 
1967. Eleven gas wells produced 121 million cubic feet, with an average weflhead

value of $0.245 per thousand cubic feet. 
 The Missouri Oil and Gas Council issued 56 drilling permits during 1967
as follows: Observation wells, two; stratigraphic tests, 24; underground
gas storage wells, three; wildcat wells, four; injection wells, 10; and oil
wells (field develop-. ment), 13. 
 The presence of low-gravity, high-vis-. cosity oil, commonly described as
"heavy oil," has been known in western Missouri for at least 100 years. This
material, because of its wide distribution and shallow depths, has received
much attention as a possible source of petroleum. Several major oil companies
expended considerable time and money in attempts to develop methods to recover
this oil, most of which is too viscous to flow satisfactorily and be produced
from ordinary drill holes. Major