Coal Hollow Coal Mine

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Coal Hollow Coal Mine is a shelved coal mine in Utah, United States.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Coal Hollow Coal Mine	Utah, United States	37.415982, -112.477512 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Mothballed	–	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.0607813749	2023	Surface	Open Pit	5.6	75*	12

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
30.8	–	–	Other Western	Bituminous	–	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Alton Coal Development	Alton Coal Development	USA

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Shelved	Permitted	Expansion	–	0	–

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Project Expansion Details

• Status: Shelved
• Production Capacity: 1.5 million tons (total production of 2 million tonnes)
• Mine expansion size: 2,114 acres
• Start Year: TBD
• Source of Financing:

Background

Coal Hollow Mine is a coal mine, operated by Alton Coal Development near Alton, Kane County, Utah, United States.

The mine has a proposed expansion of 1.5 million tons. In 2022, Utah mining regulators "shut down a southern Utah coal operation after it blew multiple deadlines to replace its invalid reclamation bond, issued by a company that is now under investigation for insurance fraud."

The permit was approved by the State of Utah on November 11, 2009. The mine would operate 6 days per week, 24 hours per day. Coal would be transported from the loadout via 43-ton coal trucks. Trucks would travel from Alton to Highway 89, north to US 20, east to I-15, south on I-15 to Cedar City and from Cedar City west 10 miles to a proposed rail loadout. Approximately 190 truck trips per day, 5 days per week would be required to handle the 2,000,000 tons of annual coal production.

In November 2009 the State of Utah, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, under Director John Baza, released an application approval with conditions for Alton Coal Development to mine 2,000,000 tons of coal per year for approximately three years from the Coal Hollow Mine. The state approval is separate from any applications to mine on public lands nearby, which is going through a separate federal approval process.

The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining says Alton Coal will get an operating permit as soon as it posts a $6 million reclamation bond, and that the Coal Hollow Mine will exhaust the private reserves in three to five years, when the company hopes to mine adjacent federal lands.

In October 2010, a Garfield County official and the city manager in Panguitch said they're among supporters of the coal mine. Garfield County Commissioner Maloy Dodds told an audience at a public hearing that he expects the Alton Coal project will "create less dust than a farmer plowing a field." Panguitch City Manager Allen Henrie says the mine would bring needed jobs to the area. Plans call for 30 pits to be dug, with each exposed pit covered and re-seeded as a new one is opened.

• Owner: Alton Coal Development
• Parent company: Alton Coal Development
• Location: Alton, Utah
• GPS coordinates: 37.415982,-112.477512
• Mine status: Closed
• Start year: 2010
• Mineable reserves: 30.8 million tons
• Coal type: Fee
• Mine size: 1,386 acres
• Mine type: Surface
• Production: 0.569 million tons per year
• Equipment: Strip Mining
• Number of employees: 120

Community Opposition

Residents of southern Utah have expressed opposition to the project due to the constant traffic (up to 153 round trips a day) and the accompanying congestion and pollution, posing a risk to local businesses and public health. In addition residents are concerned about the environmental and health effects of strip mining, including water pollution from chemically treating coal, deforestation, and risks from coal waste and coal slurry dams.

The state Division of Air Quality is taking comments through Oct. 14, 2010, before issuing a decision later this year.

Air quality regulations

According to an op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune, during a public hearing held in Panguitch on Oct. 6, 2010, the Utah Division of Air Quality (DAQ) admitted it would not install air-monitoring stations at the mining site to check air quality and visibility, due to lack of funds. However, Alton Coal “volunteered” to put in two air-monitoring stations. When DAQ was asked who would be checking these stations and reporting the findings to DAQ, it admitted the coal company would be doing the monitoring. The op-ed also said particulate matter (PM10) emissions from this mine will be 100 tons a year, and the Utah Division of Air Quality is not addressing PM 2.5, a more toxic air pollutant because of its small size. Pollution and fine coal dust (PM 2.5) will be emitted from the coal trucks, but no air-quality monitoring will be done along the transportation route. According to the author, Alton Coal Development handed Gov. Gary Herbert a $10,000 campaign check shortly before a permit for this mine was authorized.

BLM considers expanding Coal Hallow Mine

In November of 2011 it was announced that Bureau of Land Management reported it was considering a proposal to greatly expand the Coal Hallow Mine operation to more than 3,500 acres from a 635 acre mine. The agency released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement laying out the proposal, which quickly drew reaction from environmental and conservation groups that formed an online petition opposing the project.

In July 2018 the Bureau of Land Management released an EIA and approval for leasing an additional 3,600 acres and mining an additional 30.8 tons of coal. In February 2019 the Interior Department also approved an expansion of the mine.

Opposition

In April 2019 a lawsuit to block the expansion was filed by the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Grand Canyon Trust, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, and WildEarth Guardians. The lawsuit claims that the expansion will exacerbate climate change impacts and create air pollution, that Bureau of Land Management staff failed to analyze the impacts of mercury pollution from burning coal, failed to consider the enormous social costs of increased carbon emissions, and failed to take a broader, more cumulative look at the climate impacts of this project as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.