Did you know that 99% of West Virginia electricity and more than half of American electricity is generated by coal produced in West Virginia? Or that every coal mining job generates between five and six other jobs in the local economy?
Last year West Virginia mines produced 158.8 million tons of coal, 2nd only to Wyoming. Of that coal 91.9 million tons were produced in underground mining operations, more than any other state in the U.S.
These facts, along with many others are disclosed in Coal Facts 2007, a West Virginia Coal Association publication released earlier this week. Coal Facts is an annual, limited-run, magazine-style publication made available to media outlets and government agencies. Coal Facts highlights a multitude of diverse facts about the coal industry.
"This is a terrific publication that is a valuable tool for people in our industry and people that want to know about our industry," West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney said. "We do our best to make sure Coal Facts contains just about anything a person would want to know about coal production in our state."
The publication offers production figures for West Virginia and the United States, broken down by counties and states, respectively. Coal Facts also lists production by companies.
This year’s 35th edition states that 48,720 West Virginians are directly employed in mining coal with 13,511 working in underground mines, 7,022 in surface mines, 2,387 in coal handling facilities and 25,800 as contractors.
Leading the coal producing corporate group is CONSOL Energy, Inc. with a total of 17.9 million tons. Boone County is first in coal production with 32.8 million tons.
Among those statistics, Coal Facts offers a comprehensive breakdown of the $25.4 million distributed to West Virginia counties and municipalities from coal severance tax collections. West Virginia coal companies paid more than $300 in severance taxes during 2006.
"All of these statistics reveal the overwhelmingly positive impact our people have on West Virginia, its economy and its people," Raney said. "It is tremendous testimony to their work ethic and their accomplishments."
