Coal Mining
Ensuring that no mining occurs without adequate reclamation, the division enforces Ohio’s mining regulations to control areas disturbed during mining, and to minimize any long-term adverse environmental impacts of mining.
Today’s stricter laws require that coal operators successfully return mined areas to their pre-mining land uses or better land uses.
Ohio is located in the northern portion of the Appalachian Coal Basin, which is one of the largest coal fields in the United States. Ohio’s coal region covers thirty-two counties, and is located to the south and east of a line that would stretch roughly from Portsmouth through Zanesville to Youngstown. It is estimated that Ohio has 11.5 billion tons of economically recoverable coal reserves.
Ohio produces and consumes vast quantities of coal. In 2005 production totaled more than 25 million tons, or 2.2 percent of the nation’s coal. However, Ohioans are among the nation’s top 5 states, consuming more than 57 million tons of coal annually [in 2003] mostly as fuel for generating electricity while some is used for making steel.
For more information on coal production and consumption in Ohio and across the nation, go to Ohio Division of Geological Survey, Report on Ohio Mineral Industries and U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration.