Coal

Analysis & Projections

EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook for coal ›

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, released monthly.
U.S. coal production by quarter ›

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Quarterly Coal Report.
Quarterly data for coal shipments between states ›

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Quarterly Coal Distribution Report, released quarterly.
U.S. monthly coal production ›

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Coal News and Markets report, released weekly.
Coal-fired plants projected to continue as the largest source of U.S. electricity generation ›

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2013, Market Trends, April 15, 2013.

Energy In Brief Articles

What is the role of coal in the United States?

The United States holds the world's largest estimated recoverable reserves of coal and is a net exporter of coal. In 2011, our nation's coal mines produced more than a billion short tons of coal, and more than 90% of this coal was used by U.S. power plants to generate electricity.

See all Energy in Brief articles ›

Coal Explained

Where our coal comes from

In 2011, the amount of coal produced at U.S. coal mines was 1,094.3 million short tons. Coal is mined in 25 states. Wyoming mines the most coal, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Use of electricity

Most of the electricity in the United States is produced using steam turbines. Coal is the most common fuel for generating electricity in the United States. In 2011, 42% of the country's nearly 4 trillion kilowatthours of electricity used coal as its source of energy.

See more coal topics ›

Features

Sales of Fossil Fuels Produced from Federal and Indian Lands

Released May 30, 2013

This report contains fossil fuels sales production on federal and Indian lands for the FY 2003 through FY 2012.

Monthly Energy Review, Coal

Released May 28, 2013

This report includes monthly statistics for coal production, consumption by sector, imports, exports, stocks by sector, and waste coal supplied.

Quarterly Coal Distribution Report

Released April 2, 2013

This report provides detailed U.S. domestic coal distribution data by coal origin state, coal destination state, mode of transportation, and consuming sector.

Coal News and Markets

Released at 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday (except holidays)

This report summarizes spot coal prices by coal commodity regions and also includes data for total monthly coal production, eastern monthly coal production, and average cost of metallurgical coal at coke plants and export docks. The historical data for coal commodity spot market prices are proprietary and not available for public release.