State News
Coal continues to play an important role in supplying the energy needs of the United
States and, more than any other domestic fuel resource, helps to assure this country’s
energy independence by providing a reliable, domestic source for electricity generation
and industrial consumption of energy. Coal is America’s most abundant fuel resource
and it is provided to the market by a highly-
West Virginia is the nation’s second largest coal producing state. Coal mining operations in West Virginia produced over 161 million tons of coal last year. West Virginia coal is used extensively by domestic utility companies to produce electricity. Metallurgical coal mined in West Virginia represents some of the highest quality coal found anywhere in the world, and both domestic and international steel companies rely on this coal to produce coke for use in the iron making process.
Coal extraction in West Virginia is accomplished generally by underground or surface
mining. Both methods of coal extraction require the placement of fill structures,
commonly referred to as “valley fills”, acknowledging the steeply-
SURFACE vs. UNDERGROUND COAL MINING
The decision to develop a coal reserve using surface or underground mining is governed by a combination of several geologic, safety, economic, physical, regulatory and engineering considerations. For example, if a coal reserve is located very deep in the geologic column, surface mining is simply not a viable recovery method.
These coal seams, which are typically accessed using slope or shaft entries, can only be recovered using underground mining methods. The deeper the coal reserve, the less likely that it can be recovered using surface mining methods.
Coal seams that are “thin” or less than three feet thick cannot be recovered using underground mining methods regardless of the seam’s location in the geologic column. However, the same seams, if located close enough to the surface can be recovered using surface mining methods. Conversely, coal seams that are located closer to the surface of the land and outcrop along high ridges may be thick enough for underground mining extraction but fail roof control considerations as they are too close to the surface for effective roof control of unconsolidated strata.
Another consideration that generally governs the selection of the underground or
surface mining methods to extract a given coal seam and reserve is the quality of
the coal seam. Very few coal seams in Appalachia and West Virginia are comprised
entirely of coal. Most of the recoverable coal seams in this region have small seams
of non-
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