Carter v. Carter Coal Co. - The Bituminous Coal Conservation Act

Bituminous coal, or soft coal, has a lower carbon content than anthracite, or hard coal. The latter, the highest grade of coal, is used for domestic heating; bituminous coal is good only for industrial heating and for coke.

The Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1935 was designed to achieve a variety of purposes that included the stabilizing of the coal-mining industry; the promotion of interstate commerce in coal; the marketing of bituminous coal by cooperative enterprises; the tax guidelines on the sale of such coal; the identification of the production, sale, and use of bituminous coal with a national public interest; and the conservation of bituminous coal.

These justifications were enumerated in section 1 of the act. Section 2 established a National Bituminous Coal Commission within the Department of the Interior; section 3 presented the conditions governing the coal tax; and section 4 established guidelines for a nationwide "Bituminous Coal Code" and made a number of labor provisions. Under the Coal Code, prices could be fixed at certain minimums, and all coal mines throughout the United States would be required to abide by these prices.