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Detailed information on coal transportation is a necessary and important element of energy policy formulation. At the intrastate scale comprehensive information is often difficult to collect because of industrial confidentiality. In order to test the accuracy of publically available data, origin-destination movements of utility coal are estimated for Pennsylvania, using a maximum-entropy model of spatial interaction. A series of models is evaluated incorporating assumptions on transportation cost and mode, connectivity of origins and destinations, and coal properties. The inclusion of contract arrangements through restricted connectivity produces the greatest improvement in estimated flows. Attempts to specify a general cost function by the addition of coal properties (Btu. sulfur, ash l produces no significant improvements in the goodness-of-fit. The paper concludes that the identification of unobserved transport cost data by the method of residuals meets with mixed success. The results indicate that separate calibration of large-volume flows is a useful direction for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Americans have always shown strong affinity for small towns. Some, as exemplified by Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, developed into places of very real importance in the cultural and economic life of the United States in the past, but have found it increasingly difficult to compete effectively in a world of heavy industry and quaternary economics. Changes in American taste and technology suggest that small towns might again play a meaningful role in contemporary society. Three generations of economic and demographic difficulties have caused physical and psychological damage which sharply limits Bellefonte's ability to play such a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]