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{{Navbar-WestVirginiacoal}}{{Pmbox|pmbox_bg_color = #badgeseacccc;|name = CoalSwarm|portal_name = [[Portal: Coal Issues|CoalSwarmportal]]|Navbar-WestVirginiacoalproject_partner = [https://globalenergymonitor.org/ Global Energy Monitor] |help_link = [[CoalSwarm:_How_to_Get_Involved|Find out more]]|}}
==Introduction==
West Virginia is the second-biggest coal-producing state in the country (after Montana), with 152.4 million tons of coal mined in 2006 (13.1% of the U.S. total).<ref>[http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/table1.html Coal Production and Number of Mines by State and Mine Type], Energy Information Administration, accessed June 2008.</ref> West Virginia employed 20,076 coal miners in 2006, and the coal mining industry as a whole employs about 40,000 West Virginians - representing 5% of the state's civilian workforce.<ref>[http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/acr/table18.html Average Number of Employees by State and Mine Type], Energy Information Administration, accessed June 2008.</ref> It is difficult to overstate the extent to which coal mining, and the coal industry in general, are politically, economically, and culturally embedded within West Virginian society.
