GILLETTE, Wyo. — Coal production in the United States has been in decline for decades, a trend that persisted in 2024 and is expected to continue through 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
According to EIA, nationwide coal production fell from 578 million short tons in 2023 to 512 MMst in 2024, a decline the administration noted was spread evenly across each type of coal — anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite.
Annual coal production is predicted to fall further still to 483 MMst in 2025 and 467 MMst in 2026 with the administration citing rising mining costs, increasingly stringent environmental regulations, and competition from other sources of electric power generation like natural gas and renewables, per EIA.
Quarterly U.S. coal production totaled 128 MMst at the end of 2024, which was 6% lower than the previous quarter and over 9% lower than the same period in 2023, according to EIA.
Western Region coal production — which includes the Powder River Basin — accounted for more than half of all U.S. coal production during the final quarter of 2024; however, only 70.4MMst were produced, marking an 11% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2023, EIA says.
During the final quarter of 2024, around 54.5 MMst of coal came from the Powder River Basin, the highest quarterly total of any coal-producing region in the country, according to EIA data.
The quarterly total, while less than both the previous quarter and the fourth quarter of 2023, pushed annual totals for the Powder River Basin to 205 MMst, millions of short tons less than the 252 MMst produced in 2023, EIA says.
