The rate of exploitation of coal and oil resources in the USA, however large they are, contracted considerably after World War II due to the need not to run out of internal reserves in advance; the increases in production recorded are above all the effect of technological advances in the sector, which have allowed, especially in the field of exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas, the enhancement of certain fields and the increase in the productivity of the exploited fields. Coal mining (including modest lignite quotas) is around 600 million tonnes per year, which places the USA about 7% below the production levels of the Soviet Union;

In the field of oil extraction (about 430 million tons in 1978) the greatest contribution (over a third) always comes from the Texas fields, while Louisiana (24%) has recovered the second place, preceding California (11%) and Oklahoma. The production of the Alascan fields is on a strong rise, the exploitation of which dates back to the beginning of the 1960s: just 1 million tonnes of crude oil was extracted from the fields of the F. Swanson basin and the Cook bay in 1961; but in 1971 the wells yielded nearly 13 million tons, placing Alaska in eighth place among the Confederate oil states. The exploitation of the fields in the Nordic regions has presented many technical problems and required the preparation of special oil tankers-icebreakers and pipelines suitable for

In the last decade, the overall length of the oil pipeline network has remained unchanged around 300,000 km, while the pipeline complex has been greatly enhanced (approximately 1,300,000 km of network distribute 5.8 billion m ³ of natural gas, drawn for a good 40% from the endless fields of Texas).

The large hydroelectric plants in operation were joined, among others, in the 1960s by two gigantic power plants, which exploit the Niagara leap (1,950,000 kW of installed power) and an artificial dam on the San Lorenzo River (approximately 1,000,000 of kW). This last plant is part of a very vast plan that the United States and Canada have carried out for the enhancement of the waters of the San Lorenzo, especially to guarantee access to the larger vessels (up to 10,000 t) to Great Lakes; all the initiatives related to this purpose have been coordinated, for the USA part, by a special public body, the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which also assigns 29% of the tolls for the waterway (the rest goes to the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, Canadian side).

However, the contribution of hydroelectric plants to the country’s enormous energy needs remains modest (less than 300 billion kWh out of a total production of over 2,120 billion kWh, essentially supplied by thermal power plants; nuclear power plants produce about 191 billion kWh, being have been significantly increased in the last decade). In fact, the number of electronuclear plants in the USA has multiplied considerably: by 1970 there were about thirty and almost as many were waiting to be put into operation. The forecasts of the crisis of traditional energy sources, in fact, have found a particularly lively echo among US managers, who have long since been oriented towards a gradual development of energy production from nuclear reactors. Also in this case, as with the usual sources of thermal energy, the problem of safety and pollution arises in rather dramatic terms (serious fears raised, for example, by the failure of the Three Miles Island-Pennsylvania power plant, in March 1979). Some regions of the Confederation, especially the East and the shores of the Great Lakes, have suffered so profound damage to the environment as a result of the pollution caused by thermoelectric plants (and by the complex of industrial discharges) that they have seen profoundly altered – often in irreversible terms – their ecosystems. the failure of the Three Miles Island-Pennsylvania power plant in March 1979). Some regions of the Confederation, especially the East and the shores of the Great Lakes, have suffered so profound damage to the environment as a result of the pollution caused by thermoelectric plants (and by the complex of industrial discharges) that they have seen profoundly altered – often in irreversible terms – their ecosystems. the failure of the Three Miles Island-Pennsylvania power plant in March 1979). Some regions of the Confederation, especially the East and the shores of the Great Lakes, have suffered so profound damage to the environment as a result of the pollution caused by thermoelectric plants (and by the complex of industrial discharges) that they have seen profoundly altered – often in irreversible terms – their ecosystems.