National Coal Council

The National Coal Council (NCC) is an industry advisory group for the U. S. Secretary of Energy chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act whose purpose is to "ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public." Chartered in 1984 and operational in April 1985, NCC is charged with making recommendations on any matter requested relating to coal or the coal industry. It seeks to "make a vital contribution to America’s energy security by providing information that could help shape policies relative to the use of coal in an environmentally sound manner and, in turn, lead to decreased dependence on other, less abundant, more costly, and less secure sources of energy." As of March, 2011, the NCC Chairman was Clarence Joseph Hopf, President of Public Service Electric and Gas Energy Resources (PSEG) of New Jersey.