Map of US Coal Mine Methane Current Projects and Potential Opportunities

This map provides information on existing methane recovery projects at U.S. coal mines and serves as a screening tool to identify mines that could potentially host methane utilization projects in the future. A detailed, site-specific evaluation can help determine if these opportunities are technically and economically feasible. Select the links below to find more details on the information that the map shows, data sources, and how to use the map.

• What is the purpose of the map?
• What information does the map show?
• What are the sources of the data for the map?
• How do you use the map?

The map below incorporates Tribal lands and Alaska village data from EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen). CMOP provides this information to help users identify both current and potential coal mine methane (CMM) reduction projects near Tribal populations that are worth additional consideration for community outreach or engagement.

The map was updated in 2023 to reflect 2021 data.

What is the purpose of the map?

CMOP compiled public data in an interactive map to provide a resource that shows the locations of existing coal mines with operating methane recovery and utilization projects and mines that may be potential candidates for projects. *

The following CMOP resources provide additional information on the projects and opportunities featured in the map:

• Identifying Opportunities for Methane Recovery at U.S. Coal Mines: Profiles of Selected Gassy Underground Coal Mines
• Abandoned Coal Mines Methane Opportunities Database

*NOTE: CMOP gathers data from publicly-available sources to provide this industry resource. Additional verification or validation has not been performed by the CMOP program.

What information does the map show?

The map shows information about methane mitigation projects and opportunities at underground coal mines. Users can see mines that fall into the following mine types:

• Underground mines: Mines at which coal is produced by tunneling into the earth to the coalbed using mining equipment and transported to the surface;  see Active Underground Mines.
• Non-producing mines: Active mines that are temporarily not producing coal, but not yet considered closed or "abandoned" per the Mine Safety & Health Administration.
• Abandoned mines: Mines that are no longer operated to produce coal (e.g., shafts might have been sealed and ventilation has ceased); see Abandoned Underground Mines.

Mines can also be sorted by mine status in the following categories:

• AMM Opportunity: Refers to mines that are abandoned and have methane that could be captured and utilized.
• AMM Project: Refers to mines that are abandoned and have current AMM capture and utilization projects in place.
• Drained Gas and Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) Opportunity: Refers to active mines that have methane from both drainage and ventilation systems that could be captured and used/destroyed.
• Drained Gas Opportunity: Refers to mines that have methane from existing systems that could be captured and used/destroyed.
• Drained Gas Project: Refers to mines that actively capture and use/destroy methane from drainage systems.
• Drained Project and VAM Opportunity: Refers to active mines that have methane recovery projects in place but have ventilation air methane that could be captured and used/destroyed.
• VAM and Drained Gas Project: Refers to active mines that recover and use/destroy methane from both ventilation systems and drainage systems.
• VAM Opportunity: Refers to active mines that have a high volume of ventilation air methane that could be captured and utilized/destroyed. Such mines do not currently have methane drainage systems.

What are the sources of data for the map?

The map relies on several public sources of information. Specifically, emission data, emission reduction data, and additional mine information was obtained through the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The map was updated in 2023 to reflect 2021 data.

The map incorporates Tribal lands and Alaska village data from EPA’s EJScreen. CMOP provides this information to help users identify both current and potential CMM reduction projects near Tribal populations that are worth additional consideration for community outreach or engagement.

The U.S. map layer was sourced from Esri, 2021, USA States (Generalized), available at https://epa.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=99fd67933e754a1181cc755146be21ca.

The coal regions map layer was modified from: East, J.A., 2013, Coal fields of the conterminous United States—National Coal Resource Assessment updated version: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2012–1205, one sheet, scale 1:5,000,000, available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1205/. Note that only major coal regions are shown.

How do you use the map?

The map shows current projects and potential project opportunities that can be filtered using the filters on the right and information box at the bottom right that shows additional detail available. Click “>” or “<” in the box to view detailed information for different mines.

Filtering: You can turn on and off the filters on the right-hand side of the map to view data most relevant to you. The following filters are available on the map:

• Mine type
• Mine status
• Drained gas project or drained gas opportunity - Users can filter mines that have active CMM projects or have CMM that could be captured and utilized.
• VAM project or VAM opportunity - Users can filter mines that have active VAM projects or have VAM that could be captured and utilized.
• AMM project or AMM opportunity - Users can filter mines that have active AMM projects or have AMM that could be captured and utilized.
• Projects and opportunities by state - Users can limit mines to one or more U.S. states.
• Gas drained - Users can filter whether mines have gas drainage systems in place or do not have gas drainage systems in place.
• Drained gas recovery - Users can filter whether mines have drained gas recovery or do not have drained gas recovery.
• Daily methane drained less than 5 million cubic feet/day - Users can filter for mines that drain less than 5 million cubic feet/day.
• Daily methane greater than 5 million cubic feet/day - Users can filter mines that drain more than 5 million cubic feet/day.
• VAM emissions less than 5 million cubic feet/day - Users can filter mines that vent less than 5 million cubic feet/day.
• VAM emissions greater than 5 million cubic feet/day - Users can filter mines that vent more than 5 million cubic feet/day.

Zooming: You can click on the "+" and "-" buttons in the lower right-hand corner to zoom in and out on the map. Quickly return to the map's default start extent using the home button.

Repositioning the map: Simply click on the map and drag in any direction.

Downloading data: Under Selected Mines, select the four dots. You may export all data to JSON, CSV, or GeoJSON.