Greater Pittsburgh knows coal – we’ve been mining it for almost 250 years.  In 2009, coal represented 44% of net U.S. energy generation and Greater Pittsburgh produces a lot of it. In 2009, 98.9 million short tons were mined in the 32-county Pittsburgh region – only Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky produce more.

Our region has a high concentration of mining equipment manufacturers and other firms supporting the coal industry. We’ve also pioneered many of the technologies to get this important natural resource out of the ground more safely and support its use in more efficient and environmentally conscious ways.

Greater Pittsburgh scientists invented scrubbing technology and the first scrubbers were installed here. Today we’re on the forefront of carbon capture and sequestration research and pioneering new, environmentally friendly uses of fly ash.