West Virginia Coal Association releases 2006 Coal Facts
Did you know that since 1863, West Virginia has mined nearly 13 billion tons of coal? And did you know that it takes one pound of coal to produce 1.25 kilowatt hours of electricity, which is power enough to light a 100-watt bulb for 10 hours?
Did you also know that West Virginia mines produced 159.5 million tons of coal last year, with 98.6 million of those tons coming from underground operations?
Those bits of information - and many more - are disclosed in Coal Facts 2006, a West Virginia Coal Association publication released today. 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.
Did you know that since 1863, West Virginia has mined nearly 13 billion tons of coal? And did you know that it takes one pound of coal to produce 1.25 kilowatt hours of electricity, which is power enough to light a 100-watt bulb for 10 hours?
Did you also know that West Virginia mines produced 159.5 million tons of coal last year, with 98.6 million of those tons coming from underground operations?
Those bits of information - and many more - are disclosed in Coal Facts 2006, a West Virginia Coal Association publication released today. 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.
Coal Facts is also available on the West Virginia Coal Association’s Internet site, www.wvcoal.com.
"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 34th edition states that 270 coal companies operate 574 mines in West Virginia. It also states that the coal industry directly employs 42,744 people, with 12,365 working in underground mines, 5,627 at surface mines and 24,752 as contractors.
The leading coal-producing corporate group in West Virginia is CONSOL Energy, Inc., with 31.7 million tons. The leading county is Boone, with 30.6 million tons produced.
Annual figures released in this year’s publication are for 2005.
Among those statistics, Coal Facts offers a comprehensive breakdown of the $16.7 million distributed to West Virginia counties and municipalities from coal severance tax collections. West Virginia coal companies paid more than $280 million in 2005 in severance taxes.
Coal Facts also has extensive information on permits issued in 2005.
"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."
For more information, contact Bill Raney. He can be reached at (304) 342-4153.
