The United States has a long history of coal extraction, as well as the largest proven coal reserves in the world. These reserves literally fueled the Industrial Revolution in the northern U.S. and employed a good deal of the Appalachian population since that time. However, environmental concerns and shifting demand have changed the industry’s composition in recent years, and coal production in North America has generally been falling in recent years.
Sources of coal production in the United States
The coalbed thickness of just over half of coal produced in the U.S. was over 120 inches (300cm), and much of this can be reached with surface mining. This explains why coal has been a reliable energy source, even before the development of advanced mining techniques. The most famous (and numerous) coal mines are in West Virginia, but Wyoming is by far the leading U.S. state in coal production. Until 2017, Pennsylvania was the state with the highest number of coal mines. Since 2018, however, West Virginia has had the most active coal mines, with 151 as of 2022. Overall, the number of active coal mines is has been declining since 2000.
The U.S. coal industry has been generally decreasing in profitability gradually over the years. The leading company, Peabody Energy, had a slight increase in revenue in 2017 and 2018, as did Arch Coal. While both companies had record low revenues in 2020, both also experienced dramatic revenue increases in 2022, with Arch Coal experiencing its highest revenue in 10 years.
Profile of a U.S. coal miner
Coal mining employees in the U.S. are overwhelmingly men without a university degree. In spite of the lack of post-secondary education, they earned an average annual salary of 102,855 U.S. dollars per year as of 2022. However, following production trends, there are fewer coal-mining jobs, particularly in the Appalachian region. As of 2022, the total number of U.S. coal mining jobs amounted to 43,524. That was a significant decrease compared to a decade earlier, when there were 89,838 U.S. coal miners. The highest number of U.S. coal mining jobs as of 2022 were in West Virginia, with 12,997. As a result of fewer surface mines, tens of thousands of acres are reclaimed from coal mining each year.
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