Pennsylvania Coal Miners Eye Rising Electricity Demand

 

 

October 10, 2026 - Josh Palmer has coal mining in his blood.

Like so many others in the industry, his mining roots run deep: His father, his father’s uncles, five brothers and a great-uncle have toiled underground.

“It’s multiple generations. I kind of followed suit,” said Palmer, 46, of Fairchance, Fayette County, who has worked at sites in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. “I’ve developed a sense of pride and accomplishment from what I’ve been doing for about 25 years.”

Palmer serves as superintendent at LCT Energy’s Rustic Ridge 1 Mine in Donegal Township. He and his team share a steady optimism for the industry at a pivotal time, as artificial intelligence expansion and widespread electrification drive a surge in nationwide power demand.

Pennsylvania remains a major player in the coal industry, ranking as the nation’s third-largest producer and supplying millions of tons locally and globally, even as its workforce and active sites contract.

Pennsylvania mined about 46.2 million tons of bituminous and anthracite coal in 2025, according to coal production reports from the state Department of Environmental Protection. That production, however, is down 11% from the 52.2 million tons produced in 2015. Data from both years excludes production from coal refuse piles.

More than 27 million tons of Pennsylvania coal was used for electricity production last year, while more than 2.5 million tons of Pennsylvania metallurgical coal supplied steel production in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance.

“From the Pittsburgh No. 8 seam to the metallurgical coal mined in the Allegheny Mountain Region, Pennsylvania’s coal industry is well positioned to continue to provide secure, reliable power to the electric grid while remaining a critical resource for making the steel that strengthens, protects and builds our nation,” said Rachel Gleason, executive director of the alliance, a Harrisburg-based trade organization, in an email.

“Pennsylvania’s coal industry is well-positioned for the foreseeable future.”

— Judson “Jud” Kroh, president of Robindale Energy Services of Latrobe

Pennsylvania’s coal industry supports American jobs, strengthens energy security and keeps the nation’s power and industrial infrastructure running, Gleason added.

Bituminous coal was Pennsylvania’s largest export product, valued at about $2.6 billion, and accounted for 3% of the state’s $52 billion in exported goods, according to U.S. Census Bureau state export data.

“Pennsylvania’s coal industry is well-positioned for the foreseeable future,” said Judson “Jud” Kroh, president of Robindale Energy Services of Latrobe. LCT Energy is one of Robindale’s associated companies.

Kroh noted that Pennsylvania is one of the country’s largest producers of metallurgical coal, including some of the highest-quality coking coal in the world, which is burned to make coke used in steelmaking.

The vast majority of these coal exports are metallurgical grade, the kind of coal mined at Rustic Ridge. The coal is extracted using a continuous miner armed with metal cutting teeth that chews into a low seam of coal in a dark, well-ventilated space no more than four feet high. That coal is trucked to a processing plant in Central City, Somerset County, then supplied to steel customers with blast furnaces in the United States, Europe, India and Asian markets.

In Northeast Pennsylvania, Robindale mines anthracite coal. Kroh said Pennsylvania is the only state with such coal. It is a rare carbon resource used in applications ranging from solar panel manufacturing to water purification.

The increase in demand for coal fits well into Core Natural Resources’ Pennsylvania Mining Complex, which consists of the Enlow Fork, Bailey and Harvey mines in Washington and Greene counties. The complex primarily produces thermal coal — 27.3 million tons in 2025 — that is burned to create steam to drive electricity production, along with a lesser amount of metallurgical coal used for steelmaking. Core Natural Resources says it is the largest underground mining complex in the nation and, according to state mining statistics, was responsible for producing 70% of the state’s 38.7 million tons of bituminous coal mined last year — both underground and on the surface.

The Pennsylvania Mining Complex has about 557 million tons of recoverable coal resources, according to a 2025 report for Core Natural from John T. Boyd Co., a mining consulting firm based in Canonsburg. With an ability to produce 28.5 million tons of coal annually through longwall mining and an estimated lifespan stretching to 2061, Core could generate an estimated $2.7 billion from that mining complex, the report stated.

“The biggest misconception is that we are on borrowed time,” said Matthew Mackowiak, director of government affairs for Core Natural Resources, which was formed in January 2025 by a the $5.2 billion merger of Consol Energy of North Strabane and Arch Resources of St. Louis. “The global demand for coal has never been higher due to the AI boom and the electrification in our lives. … Coal accounted for about 17% of electricity production in the U.S. last year, which has been an increase over the last few years.”

Fueled by a second straight year of robust growth in power demand, U.S. utility coal consumption climbed an estimated 45 million tons last year — an increase of roughly 12%, according to Core Natural’s 2025 fourth-quarter earnings report.

That output from the Pennsylvania Mining Complex feeds domestic power generators alongside foreign markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, according to the Boyd report.

Power demand has ticked up 1% to 2% annually since 2020, following a decade and a half of flat consumption between 2005 and 2020, and coal production has stepped in to help bridge that gap, Mackowiak said.

Even so, coal’s role in electricity generation remains far below its turn-of-the-century peak. At the start of the 2000s, burning coal accounted for 51% of all U.S. electricity generation, federal Energy Information Administration records show.

Good but fewer jobs

Those who land a job in underground coal mines have a portal to a good-paying career. LCT Energy says its miners make a six-figure salary. Underground miners in Pennsylvania had an average salary topping $111,400 in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“It’s created a pretty good lifestyle. Without the mines, I would not have lived the lifestyle I have,” said Palmer, who started as a roof bolter, was promoted to foreman and became mine superintendent — a position he has held at Rustic Ridge 1 since it opened eight years ago.

“Without the mines, I would not have lived the lifestyle I have.”

— Josh Palmer, Fayette County miner

Rustic Ridge has about 90 miners and another 18 at a coal processing plant in Somerset County. To transport the coal to that plant, the company relies on 40 to 50 truck drivers, said Mark Tercek, president of LCT Energy, which is based in Richland Township, Cambria County.

Core Natural Resources has about 1,800 employees in Pennsylvania, of which about 1,600 are in operations at the Pennsylvania Mining Complex — Bailey, Enlow Fork and Harvey mines — and its coal preparation plant, Mackowiak said.

“The whole underground footprint is roughly the size of Manhattan,” Mackowiak said.

However, there are fewer miners today to do the work.

About 4,580 miners worked in the field in Pennsylvania in 2025, said Lauren Riegel, the statistician manager for the state’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis. That’s compared to about 6,400 coal miners in 2015, which was down from about 16,000 coal miners in 1990, according to state data.

The state’s coal alliance puts direct industry employment at about 5,100 positions, supporting more than 11,500 jobs. The indirect jobs include transporting coal to processing plants or delivering it to end-use sites, Gleason said.

And there are fewer places where miners can dig the fossil fuel. DEP reported 24 underground mines and 75 surface mines in the state last year, down from 46 underground mines and 213 surface mines in 2015.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, where bituminous coal is mined, Westmoreland County had just four mining sites last year, of which one was underground and three were surface mines. Ten years ago, there were 12 mines: one underground mine and 11 surface mines.

Fayette County, where coal was king for much of the 20th century, had just one surface mine last year, compared to 13 in 2015. Indiana County had eight underground mines and two surface mines last year, compared to 13 underground mines and 15 strip mines in 2015, DEP data shows.

Those working at Rustic Ridge 1 Mine will have about seven or eight years left before reserves are exhausted, Tercek said. The mine’s 4,280 acres extend underneath Donegal Township and Donegal Borough in Westmoreland County and Saltlick Township in Fayette County.

The company has applied for permits to expand operations by opening Rustic Ridge 2 Mine, which will give the company about 10 more years of mining and a similar employment level, Tercek said. LCT Energy hopes to begin developing the new mine in 2028, with production beginning around 2030. Developing a new mine costs about $15 million, Tercek said.

Mine permitting

While the state has discussed streamlining the permitting process for mines, industry officials say it still can take a few years and millions of dollars in investment just to secure the right to mine.

“Pennsylvania has the most rigorous permitting operation. It’s a very high standard,” Tercek said.

“Pennsylvania has the most rigorous permitting operation. It’s a very high standard.”

— Mark Tercek, president of LCT Energy

Core Natural Resources’ Mackowiak agrees.

“We’re one of the highest regulated industries in the world,” Mackowiak said.

From an industry perspective, Pennsylvania needs permitting reform that preserves legitimate public participation while preventing repeated, unsupported challenges from indefinitely delaying lawful, fully reviewed projects, Tercek said.

“The state should consider reasonable safeguards, including bonding requirements when objections to a valid permit are ultimately determined to be frivolous, arbitrary or unsupported, so those creating costly delays share accountability for the consequences imposed on workers, businesses and local communities,” Tercek said.

The law already has tools to deal with abusive legal challenges, including fee awards in bad-faith cases and sanctions for frivolous claims, said Melissa Marshall, an attorney for the Mountain Watershed Association, a Melcroft-based environmental organization.

Those challenging permits are often neighbors and small nonprofits trying to protect their communities from risky projects, like coal mines, fracking, or data centers, Marshall said in a statement.

“If challenging a permit could leave them financially responsible for a company’s losses, it would not just discourage frivolous cases, but legitimate challenges too. The result would be to effectively strip public citizens of their right to appeal government permit decisions,” Marshall said.

Environmental opposition

The coal industry has clashed with environmental organizations statewide and regionally over mining impacts on surface and subsurface water, as well as subsidence effects on homes and property.

For LCT Energy’s Rustic Ridge 1 and proposed Rustic Ridge 2 mines, the primary challenger has been Mountain Watershed.

Coal industry in Pennsylvania

• Third-largest coal-producing state, mining 46.2 million tons of coal in 2025

• 11,500 direct and indirect jobs, including 5,100 direct industry jobs with average mining wages about $30,000 higher than average of private-sector jobs

• Coal contributes nearly $3.8 billion annually to state’s economy

• Average annual salary of underground coal miner exceeds $111,400, based on 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics

• 17% of electric power in the U.S. generated from coal in 2025

• 27 million tons of Pennsylvania coal mined in 2025 for electricity production

• More than 2.5 million tons of metallurgical coal supplied Pennsylvania steel production in 2025

Source: Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, industry trade group

Mountain Watershed has challenged permits that LCT Energy has sought for both mines, including the expansion of Rustic Ridge 1 that adds acreage north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Based on a Mountain Watershed petition, the state Environmental Hearing Board directed DEP to study 11,000 acres in Donegal and Mt. Pleasant townships to determine whether it is unsuitable for mining. Mountain Watershed claimed in its petition that mining could degrade surface and groundwater that contains the headwaters of Four Mile Run.

Kroh, president of Robindale Energy Services, predicted that the technical study of the 11,000 acres in the Donegal area will not find it unsuitable for mining. He noted the DEP-permitted Rustic Ridge 1 Mine operates within that 11,000 acres.

Mountain Watershed wants strong regulations on mining operations and mine operators held to strong bonding requirements and inspections. Mining should not take place in sensitive areas, such as in the headwaters of three cold-water fisheries, said Ashley Funk, executive director of Mountain Watershed.

“If impacts are observed from active mining operations, such as the extensive subsidence caused by LCT’s Rustic Ridge 1, then operations should not be permitted to expand,” Funk said.

LCT Energy resolved any subsidence issues to properties impacted by the mining operation, Tercek said.

New mining “poses an overburden of risk and impact” to already-strained waterways and threatens drinking water because the majority of residents rely on private wells and springs,” Funk said. More than 100 abandoned mine discharges already pollute the receiving watershed of Rustic Ridge 1, she said.

Continuing to expand coal mining operations also threatens farming, a booming outdoor recreation economy and tourism, Funk said.

Although Mountain Watershed has raised alarms about the environmental impact of Rustic Ridge’s operations, “we’ve been mining in the headwaters the last two years and nothing has happened,” Tercek said.

From LCT Energy’s perspective, Mountain Watershed often repeats disputed claims based on worst-case projections rather than Rustic Ridge’s actual design, monitoring data and operating performance, Tercek said.

“Repetition does not turn allegations into proven facts,” he said. “The MWA’s repeated challenges give far too little weight to the families, local businesses and communities that stand to benefit from the nearly $2.4 billion in direct investment, wages, royalties and goods and services LCT expects the mine to provide over the life of this project.”

 

That investment, Tercek claimed, will generate more than $6 billion in economic activity for the region.