Arch Coal
Encyclopedia
Arch Coal is an American
coal mining
and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur
content in the United States
. Arch Coal is the second largest supplier of coal in the U.S. behind Peabody Energy
. The company supplies 16% of the domestic market
. Demand comes mainly from generators of electricity.
Arch Coal operates 21 active mines and controls approximately 3.1 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves, located in Central Appalachia
, the Powder River Basin
, and the Western Bituminous regions. The company operates mines in Colorado
, Kentucky
, Utah
, Virginia
, West Virginia
and Wyoming
, and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri
. The company sells a substantial amount of its coal to producers of electric power, steel producers and industrial facilities.
) and the Hunt
family of Dallas, Texas
. Ashland Coal, Inc. was formed in 1975 as a subsidiary
of Ashland Oil. The privately held Arch Mineral Corporation merged with Ashland Coal, Inc. in July 1997, creating the present-day company.
. 2004 was a record-setting year for donations made by the coal industry.
and water contamination. Arch Coal's West Virginia
mining operations in the Appalachian Mountains
were the subject of a critical documentary in 2002 on Now with Bill Moyers on PBS
.
Arch's Dal-Tex mining operations above the town of Blair, West Virginia were the subject of a 1998 US News and World Report story "Shear Madness" by Penny Loeb. The story documented the impacts of mountaintop removal on communities close to the mines and their subsequent depopulation. A landmark 1999 lawsuit brought by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Bragg v. Robertson was the first successful citizen lawsuit to stop Arch's proposed mountaintop removal valley fill. The fill would have buried several miles of stream at Pigeon Roost Hollow near Blair, West Virginia.
In his ruling for the plaintiffs, Judge Charles H. Haden stated that "If there is any life form that cannot acclimate to life deep in a rubble pile, it is eliminated. No effect on related environmental values is more adverse than obliteration...Under a valley fill the water quality of the stream becomes zero. Because there is no stream, there is no water quality."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
content in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Arch Coal is the second largest supplier of coal in the U.S. behind Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy Corporation , previously Peabody Coal Company, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. The company is headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri....
. The company supplies 16% of the domestic market
Domestic market
A domestic market is a financial market. Its trades are aimed toward a single market. A domestic market is also referred to as domestic trading...
. Demand comes mainly from generators of electricity.
Arch Coal operates 21 active mines and controls approximately 3.1 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves, located in Central Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
, the Powder River Basin
Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...
, and the Western Bituminous regions. The company operates mines in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. The company sells a substantial amount of its coal to producers of electric power, steel producers and industrial facilities.
History
Arch Mineral Corporation was founded in 1969 as a partnership between Ashland Oil (now Ashland, Inc.Ashland, Inc.
Ashland Inc. is a Fortune 500 company which operates in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Presently based in Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, the company traces its roots back to Ashland, Kentucky .-History:...
) and the Hunt
H. L. Hunt
Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, Jr. , known throughout his life as "H. L. Hunt," was a Texas oil tycoon and conservative activist. He built one of the world's largest fortunes by trading poker winnings for oil rights, ultimately securing title to much of the East Texas Oil Field, one of the world's very...
family of Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Ashland Coal, Inc. was formed in 1975 as a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Ashland Oil. The privately held Arch Mineral Corporation merged with Ashland Coal, Inc. in July 1997, creating the present-day company.
Politics
Arch Coal PAC is named, along with other major coal producers, as a donor to the 2004 election campaign in West VirginiaWest Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. 2004 was a record-setting year for donations made by the coal industry.
Environmental impact
The company practices mountaintop removal mining, which is controversial because it reduces the height of mountaintops (sometimes as much as by 600 to 800 feet (243.8 m)), removes all vegetation and places mining waste or overburden into mountain streams, causing flooding, erosionErosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
and water contamination. Arch Coal's West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
mining operations in the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
were the subject of a critical documentary in 2002 on Now with Bill Moyers on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
.
Arch's Dal-Tex mining operations above the town of Blair, West Virginia were the subject of a 1998 US News and World Report story "Shear Madness" by Penny Loeb. The story documented the impacts of mountaintop removal on communities close to the mines and their subsequent depopulation. A landmark 1999 lawsuit brought by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Bragg v. Robertson was the first successful citizen lawsuit to stop Arch's proposed mountaintop removal valley fill. The fill would have buried several miles of stream at Pigeon Roost Hollow near Blair, West Virginia.
In his ruling for the plaintiffs, Judge Charles H. Haden stated that "If there is any life form that cannot acclimate to life deep in a rubble pile, it is eliminated. No effect on related environmental values is more adverse than obliteration...Under a valley fill the water quality of the stream becomes zero. Because there is no stream, there is no water quality."