The U.S. Central Appalachian coal price is a key indicator for coal prices across the country. The region includes parts of Eastern Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, which are some of the largest coal-producing states in the country. In 2024, the average Central Appalachian coal spot price stood at 77.67 U.S. dollars per metric ton. This was less than half the average price in 2022. Coal commodity prices surged in 2022 as sanctions on Russian imports, production loss in Australia, and a temporary export ban in Indonesia put pressure on supply volumes. Other important global coal benchmarks include the Northwest Europe marker price, Australia's Newcastle, and China's Qinhuangdao price.

On September 26, 2025, the U.S. Central Appalachian coal price stood at 79 U.S. dollars per short ton. Prices have been especially stable throughout the first half of 2025, with figures staying below 80 U.S. dollars. Central Appalachian coal is produced in parts of Eastern Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. In 2024, the annual Central Appalachian coal spot price stood at 77.67 U.S. dollars per metric ton.

Mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) has been a major source of landscape change in the Central Appalachians of the United States (US). Changes in stream hydrology, channel geomorphology and water quality caused by MTR coal mining can lead to severe impairment of stream ecological integrity. The objective of the Clean Water Act (CWA) is to restore and maintain the ecological integrity of the Nation's waters. Sensitive, readily measured indicators of ecosystem structure and function are needed for the assessment of stream ecological integrity. Most CWA assessments rely on structural indicators; inclusion of functional indicators could make these assessments more holistic and effective. The goals of this study were: (1) test the efficacy of selected carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling and microbial structural and functional indicators for assessing MTR coal mining impacts on streams; (2) determine whether indicators respond to impacts in a predictable manner; and (3) determine if functional indicators are less likely to change than are structural indicators in response to stressors associated with MTR coal mining. The structural indicators are water quality and sediment organic matter concentrations, and the functional indicators relate to microbial activity and biofilm production. Seasonal measurements were conducted over the course of a year in streams draining small MTR-impacted and forested watersheds in the Twentymile Creek watershed of West Virginia (WV). Five of the eight structural parameters measured had significant responses, with all means greater in the MTR-impacted streams than in the forested streams. These responses resulted from changes in source or augmentation of the original source of the C and N structural parameters because of MTR coal mining. Nitrate concentration and the stable carbon isotopic ratio of dissolved inorganic carbon were the most effective indicators evaluated in this study. Only three of the fourteen functional indicators measured had significant responses to MTR coal mining, with all means greater in the forested streams than in the MTR-impacted streams. These results suggest that stressors associated with MTR coal mining caused reduction in some aspects of microbial cycling, but resource subsidies may have counterbalanced some of the inhibition leading to no observable change in most of the functional indicators. The detritus base, which is thought to confer functional stability, was likely sustained in the MTR-impacted streams by channel storage and/or leaf litter inputs from their largely intact riparian zones. Overall, our results largely support the hypothesis that certain functional processes are more resistant to stress induced change than structural properties but also suggest the difficulty of identifying suitable functional indicators for ecological integrity assessment.

Surface mining for coal has taken place in the Central Appalachian region of the United States for well over a century, with a notable increase since the 1970s. Researchers have quantified the ecosystem and health impacts stemming from mining, relying in part on a geospatial dataset defining surface mining’s extent at a decadal interval. This dataset, however, does not deliver the temporal resolution necessary to support research that could establish causal links between mining activity and environmental or public health and safety outcomes, nor has it been updated since 2005. Here we use Google Earth Engine and Landsat imagery to map the yearly extent of surface coal mining in Central Appalachia from 1985 through 2015, making our processing models and output data publicly available. We find that 2,900 km2 of land has been newly mined over this 31-year period. Adding this more-recent mining to surface mines constructed prior to 1985, we calculate a cumulative mining footprint of 5,900 km2. Over the study period, correlating active mine area with historical surface mine coal production shows that each metric ton of coal is associated with 12 m2 of actively mined land. Our automated, open-source model can be regularly updated as new surface mining occurs in the region and can be refined to capture mining reclamation activity into the future. We freely and openly offer the data for use in a range of environmental, health, and economic studies; moreover, we demonstrate the capability of using tools like Earth Engine to analyze years of remotely sensed imagery over spatially large areas to quantify land use change.

These data accompany the 2018 manuscript published in PLOS One titled "Mapping the yearly extent of surface coal mining in Central Appalachia using Landsat and Google Earth Engine". In this manuscript, researchers used the Google Earth Engine platform and freely-accessible Landsat imagery to create a yearly dataset (1985 through 2015) of surface coal mining in the Appalachian region of the United States of America.This specific dataset is a collection of "simplified" KML files (ideal for visualization but not data analysis) of the mining areas as determined by this study for each year from 1985 through 2015. Individual file names within the dataset indicate the specific year. These files show the mining “footprint” in Appalachia for that given year, indicating that mining was occurring in a given location during that year. These files do not, however, indicate the year at which mining began or ceased in any given location.

A report detailing the surveying and resulting predictions for coal beds in regions of the Appalachian Basin. Data downloads include Coal Bed Thickness (Isopachs), Mined Area, Areal Extent (Outcrop), Overburden Thickness, Area of Known Resources, Stratigraphic Data Points, Structure (Elevation).

This dataset contains information about world's coal price from 1987. Data from BP. Follow datasource.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics research.Notes:- Source: IHS Northwest Europe prices for 1990-2000 are the average of the monthly marker, 2001-2016 the average of weekly prices. IHS Japan prices basis = 6,000 kilocalories per kilogram NAR CIF.- The Asian prices are the average of the monthly marker.- Chinese prices are the average monthly price for 2000-2005, weekly prices 2006 -2016, 5,500 kilocalories per kilogram NAR, including cost and freight (CFR)- Source: Platts. Prices are for CAPP 12,500 Btu, 1.2 SO2 coal, fob. - CAPP = Central Appalachian; cif = cost+insurance+freight (average prices); fob = free on board. &am

Companion datasets to manuscript on nitrate export from mountaintop removal coal mining impacted watersheds in Central Appalachia.

This dataset (located by latitude and longitude) is a subset of the geochemical dataset found in Chap. F, Appendix 7, Disc 1, and used in this study of the Fire Clay coal zone. That dataset is a compilation of data from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS) USCHEM (U.S. geoCHEMical), and the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) Kentucky Coal Resources Information System (KCRIS) databases. The metadata file for the complete dataset is found in Chap. F, Appendix 8, Disc 1 (please see it for more detailed information on this geochemical dataset). This subset of the geochemical data for the Fire Clay coal zone includes ash yield, sulfur content, SO2 value, gross calorific value, arsenic content and mercury content for these records, as well as the ranking of these values, which is described later under the attributes in this metadata file. Analytical techniques are described in the references in Chap. F, Appendix 9, Disc 1. The analytical data are stored as text fields because many of the parameters contain letter qualifiers appearing after the numerical data values. The following is a list of the possible qualifier values: L - less than, G - greater than, N - not detected, or H - interference that cannot be easily resolved. Not all of these codes may be in this database.

This dataset comes from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and is part of the 2011 Annual Energy Outlook Report (AEO2011). This dataset is Table 140, and contains only the reference case. The unit of measurement in this dataset is million short tons. The data is broken down into northern Appalachia, central Appalachia, southern Appalachia, eastern interior, western interior, gulf, Dakota medium, western montana, Wyoming, Rocky Mountain, Arizona/New Mexico and Washington/Alaska.

Headwater streams impacted by surface coal mining and valley fill in the central Appalachian region of the eastern U.S. have characteristics not shared by reference-quality streams in the region. These include elevated salinity, often measured using specific conductance (SC) and often cited as a primary stressor of benthic macroinvertebrate communities. The objective of this study was to determine if benthic macroinvertebrate community composition differences from reference condition in mining-influenced streams could be attributed to potential stressors other than SC. Stream habitat characteristics were measured and calculated, and benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled from 12 central Appalachian streams. Multiple benthic macroinvertebrate community metrics, including Ephemeroptera density, richness, and composition were correlated strongly and negatively with SC. Predator density and scraper richness were correlated strongly and negatively with streamwater selenium concentrations. Clinger richness was correlated strongly and positively with large cobble-to-fines ratios in stream substrate and relative bed stability. These correlations are consistent with known ecotoxicological mechanisms revealed by prior studies. Improved understanding of how multiple habitat features are altered by mining and, in turn, impact community structure in headwater streams can inform water resource management in mining areas.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the leachate conductivity generated by overburden materials in a columns test representing the surface coal mining conditions and its correlation with cations, anions, pH, and alkalinity in two scenarios: “Altered” and “Unaltered” with the application of the screening and segregation proposed method. . For the Unaltered scenario, all strata were included; while the Altered scenario excluded the overburden strata with the highest 15% conductivities measured in the screening-level assessment. The 15% selection criterion was based on the best professional judgment that this would be a reasonable overburden quantity to be selectively identified and isolated in a surface coal mining operation.

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Pinto, P., S. Al-Abed , C. Holder, R. Warner, J. McKernan , S. Fulton, and E. Somerville. Assessing the Impact of Removing Select Materials from Coal Mine Overburden, Central Appalachia Region, USA. Robert Kleinmann Mine Water and the Environment. Springer-Verlag, BERLIN-HEIDELBERG, GERMANY, 37(1): 31-41, (2018).

Analyses linking extent of mountaintop removal coal mining across Central Appalachia with changes in water quality

The USGS Central Region Energy Team assesses oil and gas resources of the United States. The onshore and State water areas of the United States comprise 71 provinces. Within these provinces, Total Petroleum Systems are defined and Assessment Units are defined and assessed. Each of these provinces is defined geologically, and most province boundaries are defined by major geologic changes.

The Appalachian Basin Province is located in the eastern United States, encompassing all or parts of the counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The main population centers within the study area are Birmingham, Alabama; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Roanoke, Virginia. The main Interstates are I-20, I-24, I-40, I-59, I-64, I-65, I-66, I-70, I-71, I-75, I-76, I-77, I-78, I-79, I-80, I-81, I-83, I-84, I-87, I-88, and I-90. The Ohio, Susquehanna, Allegheny, Tennessee, Coosa, Delaware, New, Potomac, and Scioto Rivers and their tributaries drain the area. The province boundary was drawn to include the geologic structures generally considered to be in or bounding the Appalachian Basin.

The Total Petroleum System is used in the National Assessment Project and incorporates the Assessment Unit, which is the fundamental geologic unit used for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Total Petroleum System is shown here as a geographic boundary defined and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates not only the set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations, but also the geologic interpretation of the essential elements and processes within the petroleum system that relate to source, generation, migration, accumulation, and trapping of the discovered and undiscovered petroleum resource(s).

The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown here as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary.

This data is published in Restoration Ecology, in the article
Mines to Forests? Analyzing long-term recovery trends for surface coal mines in Central Appalachia.

These data contain detail the recovery of post-mining landscapes in Central Appalachia. The data is provided in various formats:

processedData_lastMinedBefore_2015_gte10px_gompertzData.csv - this contains analyzed data for NBR, NDMI, and NDVI, the annual band date per site is not available in this file, see other data files provided. processedData_analysisBands_PES_lastMinedBefore_2015_gte10px_gompertzData.csv/.geojson - This is the analysis ready dataset, and it contains the annual data only for those indices used in our analysis (NBR, NDMI, NDVI). processedData_allBands_PES_lastMinedBefore_2015_gte10px_gompertzData.csv/.geojson - This is the full dataset, it contains all band and index data, including those not used over the course of our analysis.

For all data, only sites last mined before 2015, and greater than or equal to 10 pixels in size are included.

Characteristics of Appalachian Kentucky birth records from 1997 to 2003 by level of exposure to active mountain-top removal mining within five kilometers of maternal residence reported at birth (N = 95,581).

Birth defect outcomes by level of exposure to active mountain-top removal mining within five kilometers of maternal residence.