Federal Coal in the United States - Digital Database of Coal Ownership Status

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Federal Coal in the United States

A Digital Database of Coal Ownership Status

As United States coal resources continue to be examined for potential development, a critical need exists for a digital database containing locations and status of all Federal coal resources. This Fact Sheet describes the development of such a digital database and presents examples of how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has used these coal ownership data. This database and its products are designed to help policy makers and land-use planners make wise decisions regarding Federal land use while maintaining a healthy domestic energy industry. Although the State of Alaska has vast coal resources, much of which is Federally owned, digital data for Alaskan coal ownership are not currently available. Therefore, information presented here refers only to coal in the conterminous United States.

Federally owned coal plays a major role in the energy supply of the United States. A great increase in coal production from Federal lands began in the 1970’s (fig. 1), resulting from a high demand for low-sulfur coal.

Large reserves of this low-sulfur coal are located in Wyoming, Utah,Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico, where the Federal Government owns the rights to the majority of coal reserves (fig. 2). Today, more than one-third of the Nation’s coal production comes from coal on Federal leases.

Figure 2. Coal fields are found throughout the United States. Large portions of the coal fields in the Western States occur on Federally owned lands. This map is the first digital compilation showing the Nation’s coal fields combined with the distribution of Federally managed lands. (This map is available separately as USGS Open-File Report 97-461; see Biewick, 1997.)

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Percent Royalties from Federal Coal Leases by State Surface and Mineral Management Status Attributes	Estimated Resources of Non-Leased Federal Coal, Powder River Basin, Montana and Wyoming (interactive map by quadrangle)
Powder River Basin Federal Surface Management Powder River Basin Coal Ownership	Kaiparowits Plateau Assessment Area Contacts for Information
Digital Ownership Coverages	References Cited

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U. S. Department of the Interior
U. S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet FS-012-98
February 1998

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