U.S. Coal Production Hits 20-Year Low

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Coal production in the United States (U.S.) has fallen below 1 billion short tons for the first time in two decades.

For 2013, coal production stood at 984.8 million short tons, a 3.1% drop from the 1.02 billion short tons recorded in 2012. At the same time, the number of producing mines in the U.S. dropped 13.7% to 1,061 mines compared to 2012, while the number of people working in the Coal Industry fell markedly by almost 9,500 - 10.5%. There are now 80,400 people working at U.S. coal mines, according to the Annual Coal Report 2013 released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The sector has been hit hard by the rapid rise of shale gas as well as a decrease in exports during 2014. Things are expected to become even more difficult going forward with the impending arrival of President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel plants to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. Each state will have to create an individual strategy for reducing coal-fired electricity, boosting energy efficiency and increasing wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.

"The average number of employees at underground mines decreased 9.0% in 2013 and the average number of employees at surface mines decreased 13.0%," the EIA stated. "Kentucky had the largest decline in the average number of employees for the year, dropping by 3,446 employees. While there were fewer employees at mines in the United States in 2013, and a decrease in production, there was an increase in productivity. The average production per employee hour increased by 6.7% to a level of 5.54 short tons per employee hour."

The only real positive sign for the industry was that for the first time in two years, U.S. consumption of coal rose. For 2013, U.S. coal consumption increased 4% to 924.8 million short tons, an increase of 35.6 million short tons. The electricity sector accounted for almost 93% of the total U.S. coal consumption in 2013, consuming an extra 34.8 million short tons that year - the first increase since 2010.

The Appalachian and Western regions experienced declines in their production totals, with only the Interior region showing an increase. The Appalachian region recorded the largest decrease of any region with a drop of 22.3 million short tons to 269.7 million short tons, or 7.6%. West Virginia, the largest coal-producing state in the Appalachian region, had a decline in coal production of 4.5 million short tons. The largest tonnage decline in the Appalachian region was in Kentucky, which fell 10.5 million short tons in 2013.

In the Western Region, coal production fell in 2013 to 530.2 million short tons, a drop of 13 million short tons. Wyoming, the largest coal-producing state in the region and also the United States, recorded a dip in production of 13.5 million short tons to end the year at 387.9 million short tons. This was the lowest production level there in a decade.

Coal production in the Interior region continued to grow for the fourth year in a row with a 2013 tonnage total of 183 million short tons, an increase of 3 million short tons -- or 1.7%. Illinois is the largest coal-producing state in the Interior region and it saw production rise 7.6% to 52.1 million short tons for 2013 -- its highest since the mid-1990s.

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