January 30, 2024 - West Virginia is the largest supplier of metallurgical coal to the American iron and steel industry.  Sixty-four percent of all the coal used in America came from Mountain State coal mines. 

Since met coal and coke are foundational elements of iron, steel, alloy and metals production, American heavy industry, from the blast furnace to the foundry to the auto plant to the appliance factory, relies almost exclusively on West Virginia met coal.

 A study completed last year by WVU attributed almost 56,000 direct jobs across the country in the iron, steel and metals manufacturing to the production and use of West Virginia met coal. These direct jobs supported another 491,000 additional jobs throughout the U.S. economy.

You can read the complete report here: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=bureau_be