Included Areas
The Western Coal Field region of Kentucky includes all of the following counties:
- Butler County
- Daviess County
- Grayson County
- Hancock County
- Henderson County
- Hopkins County
- McLean County
- Muhlenberg County
- Ohio County
- Union County
- Webster County
Additionally, the region includes parts of the following counties:
- Breckinridge County
- Christian County
- Edmonson County
- Hart County
- Logan County
- Todd County
- Warren County
Not all these counties, and not all of the Western Coal Field, contain coal. The term is used to define the region with Pennyslvanian-age strata, largely sandstone and shale, in contrast to the Mississippian-age limestone of the adjoining and older Pennyroyal region. A transitional zone, generally defined as being part of the coalfield region, is the Clifty Area, where the rock outcrops include bituminous sandstone, or tar sands, which have commercial value as paving material.
The biggest concentration of surface mines in this region has historically been along the edges in Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Ohio Counties. All three counties still contain a very large amount of coal and have active mining, surface and underground, operations taking place. The use of power shovels and draglines were very common in these counties where the coal would lay as close as 60–80 feet from the surface. This is a region that was considered to be the largest producer of coal in the world throughout the 1960s through part of the 80s until it dramatically dropped in the early 90s after the passage of clean air regulations. The largest mining company found during the 30 year span of prosperity became Peabody Coal Company ( Peabody Energy ) who's Corporate Office's were located in the region in Henderson, KY at the time. Eventually enough regulation, government intervention, and political debate shut this region down economically starting in 1987. In 2003 Armstrong Coal Company started to lease a large chunk of property in the region from Peabody Energy so that they could recover the coal. The reason for this is the demand for Western Kentucky Coal has once again spiked to levels not seen since the 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Western Coal Fields
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