• For PDF map of coal producing regions of the United States click here.

• Latest figures are for the week of March 17^th, 2006, price of central Appalachian coal on the spot market is 58.25 per short ton. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/coalnews/coalmar.html#spot, Official Energy Statistics from the US Government.)
• Coal is the number one source of total US electricity production  (54%). (Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 1998).
• Coal production in the US in 2004 was 1,151.2 million short tons. (National Mining Association 2004 Coal Producers Survey, May 2005)
• The US exported 48 million short tons of coal in 2004. (National Mining Association 2004 Coal Producers Survey, May 2005)
• Total amount of coal mined in the central Appalachian Region in 2004 was 389.9 million short tons. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/acr_sum.html#fes1, Official Energy Statistics from the US Government.)
• In 2005 the US exported a total of 49,942,211 short tons of coal. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/html/t10p01p1.html, Statistics from the US Government.)
• In 2005 the US imported a total of 30,460,349 short tons of coal, with the majority coming from Columbia, Venezuela and Indonesia. . (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/html/t18p01p1.html, Statistics from the US Government.)
• In 2005 eastern Kentucky mines produced 93.4 million short tons of coal, while western Kentucky mines produced 26.4 million short tons of coal. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/special/feature.html, Statistics from the US Government.)
• The production increase in 2005 in eastern Kentucky was in part driven by an entire year's production at five mines that only had partial utilization in 2004. The increases in production in these five mines (Matrix Energy's No. 1; Massey Energy's White Cabin No. 7; Miller Brothers' Trap Branch; R & R Mining's Mine No. 30; and James River's Mine No. 23) totaled 3.7 million short tons, more than offsetting the declines in production at various other eastern Kentucky mines in 2005. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/special/feature.html, Statistics from the US Government.)
• Of the 57 Synfuel Plants in the country, 36 are located in the central Appalchian Region, with the majority in eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia. These 36 plants processed 75.2 million short tons of coal in 2005, making up 54% of the Synfuel market. (Energy Information Administration web site, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/special/feature.html, Statistics from the US Government.) 

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining:

• In 2005 The Kentucky Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issued 25 Permits and Amendments for Mountaintop Removal Mining. (Research done by KFTC member John Wilborn)
• 11 of the 25 Mountaintop Removal Permits have been granted a post mining land use of Fish and Wildlife by the Kentucky Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. (Research done by KFTC member John Wilborn)
• Of the largely forested study area (12 million acres), approximately 6.8 % has been or may be affected by recent and future (1992-2012) mountaintop mining [USEPA, 2002]. In the past, reclamation focused primarily on erosion prevention and backfill stability and not reclamation with trees. Compacted backfill material hindered tree establishment and growth; reclaimed soils were more conducive for growing grass; and grasses, which out competed tree seedlings, were often planted as a quick growing vegetative cover. As a result, natural succession by trees and woody plants on reclaimed mined land (with intended post-mining land uses other than forest) was slowed. Better reclamation techniques for growing trees on mined lands now exist and are being promoted. (Federal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Released October 28, 2005)

Stream Buffer Zone:

• The Kentucky Department of Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issued 321 Stream Buffer Zone waivers in 2005 out of a total 557 permits and amendments issued in 2005. These Stream Buffer Zone waivers allow mining closer than 100 feet and in most situations as close as zero feet to 543 streams in Kentucky.

Federal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Released October 28, 2005:

• 724 miles of streams across the Central Appalachian region were buried by valley fills between 1985 and 2001 (many more miles have been permitted but not yet buried).
• An additional 1,200 miles of streams have already been impacted by valley fills.
• Selenium was found only in those coalfield streams below valley fills (selenium is a metalloid that, according to the EPA, “can be highly toxic to aquatic life even at relatively low concentrations”).
• Aquatic life forms downstream of valley fills are being harmed or killed.
• Without additional restrictions, a total of 2,200 square miles of Appalachian forests (6.8 percent) would be eliminated by 2012 by large-scale mining operations (this is an area that would encompass Floyd, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Perry and most of Harlan counties in eastern Kentucky; or Hopkins, Daviess, Union, Muhlenberg and Webster counties in western Kentucky).
• Without additional environmental restrictions, mountaintop removal mining will destroy an additional 600 square miles of land and 1000 miles of streams in the next decade.

 
Coal Trucks:

• Click here to download a PDF document of the 2005 Extended Weight Coal Haul Road System in Kentucky. (Provided by the Kentucky Department of Transportation Web Site, http://transportation.ky.gov/planning/maps/coalhaul/coalhaul.asp)
• “The Extended Weight Coal Haul Road System consists of coal haul highway system segments over which coal or coal by-products in excess of 50,000 tons were transported by motor vehicles.” Therefore, if any segment of road in Kentucky has 50,000 tons or more transported on that segment of road in a given year then that road automatically becomes a part of the Extended Weight Coal Haul Road System in Kentucky. (Kentucky Official Coal Haul Highway System, Introduction to the Method, from the Kentucky Department of Transportation web sight, http://transportation.ky.gov/planning/maps/coalhaul/coalhaul.asp.)

 
Air Quality:

• Out of the entire U.S. electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96% of sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), 88% of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and  99% of mercury emissions. (Clean the Air, “Power Plant Air Pollution Problem,” Fact sheet)
• Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury pollution in the U.S. (U.S. EPA, Office of Water, “Air Pollution and Water Quality:  Atmospheric Deposition Initiative:  Where is the Air Pollution Coming From?” Available online at http://www.epa.gov/owowwtr1/oceans/airdep/air5html). and  responsible for 33% of the total mercury emissions from all known manmade sources nationwide. (U.S. EPA, Mercury Report to Congress, 1997, Vol. 1).
• Every year, nearly 600 coal and oil-fired power plants produce over 100 million tons of sludge waste. (Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Clean Air Task Force, “Laid to Waste:  The Dirty Secret of Combustion Waste from America’s Power Plants,” February 2000, p. 1.3)

Water Quality:

• Headwaters streams — important ecologically, economically and socially.  In an October 2001 letter signed by 39 senior aquatic scientists with broad knowledge and expertise in stream ecosystems, they concluded

“The accumulated scientific evidence points to numerous significant
consequences when headwater streams are lost.”

• The loss of the hydrologic retention capacity provided by headwater streams (i.e. the ability to hold and store water) results in increased frequency and intensity of flooding downstream as well as lower base flows (Dunne and Leopold 1978).
• Increased frequency and intensity of flooding results in increased channel erosion downstream (Trimble 1997).
• Reduced retention of sediments in headwater channels leads to excess sediment transport downstream; sediment accumulation in larger streams and rivers can affect fish spawning success and stream productivity (Waters 1995).
• The predominance of organic debris dams in headwater streams (Bilby and Likens 1980) provides sediment retention, important habitat structure, and sites for critical metabolic activity (Steinhart et al. 2000). These important functions are eliminated when headwaters are channelized, piped, or filled.
• Filling of stream valleys by mountaintop removal valley-fill coal mining has resulted in a greater proportion of fine particles in stream sediments and an altered flow and temperature regime downstream (Wiley et al. 2001). Substrate particle size, water temperature, and flow regime are physical parameters with significant impact on the biota of a stream (Allan 1995).
• The basic chemical composition of unpolluted streams draining a landscape is largely established in headwater streams (Gibbs 1970, Likens 1999, Johnson et al.2000).
• Small streams in the network are the sites of the most active uptake and retention of nutrients (Alexander et al. 2000, Peterson et al. 2001); hence elimination of small streams from the network results in increased downstream transport of nutrients … with eutrophication and groundwater contamination being likely consequences of loss of the nutrient retention capacity afforded by headwater streams.
• Headwater streams are sites for physical and biological processing of organic matter from the watershed such as falling leaves ( Wallace et al. 1997) and a source of energy for downstream reaches (Kaplan et al. 1980). The dissolved organic matter and fine particles exported from headwaters are important food resources for ecosystems downstream (Vannote et al. 1980). Hence the elimination of small streams… can result in reduced inputs of food resources for downstream ecosystems.
• Small, spring-fed headwater streams can serve as thermal refuges for fishes, providing a refuge from freezing for stream fishes during winter (e.g. Power et al. 1999) and cool refuges for young-of-the-year during summer (e.g. Curry et al. 1997).
• Headwater streams provide unique habitats for numerous species. Their degradation and elimination from the landscape increases extinction vulnerability for aquatic invertebrate (Morse et al. 1993), amphibian, and fish species (Etnier 1997).