Surface mining after 1950

In 1949, underground coal mines accounted for about 75% of U.S. production, and as late as 1967 underground mines still produced 62% of the nation's coal. In the 1970s, as huge new surface mines opened in Wyoming's Powder River Basin and dedicated coal trains began to transport coal to power plants outside the region, the share of surface mining rapidly increased. In 2009, 69.1% of U.S. coal production came from surface mining. Overall, during the period 1949-2009, 26.1 billion tons has been produced at surface mines, or 55.1% of the 47.3 billion tons mined during the period.

Year	Underground		Surface		Total
___________	____________	____________	____________	____________	____________
1949	358,854,000		121,716,000		480,570,000
1950	421,000,000		139,388,000		560,388,000
1951	442,184,000		134,151,000		576,335,000
1952	381,173,000		126,251,000		507,424,000
1953	367,444,000		120,795,000		488,239,000
1954	305,964,000		114,825,000		420,789,000
1955	357,964,000		132,874,000		490,838,000
1956	380,829,000		148,945,000		529,774,000
1957	373,565,000		144,477,000		518,042,000
1958	297,583,000		134,034,000		431,617,000
1959	292,849,000		139,828,000		432,677,000
1960	292,584,000		141,745,000		434,329,000
1961	279,551,000		140,872,000		420,423,000
1962	287,939,000		151,104,000		439,043,000
1963	308,971,000		168,224,000		477,195,000
1964	327,697,000		176,485,000		504,182,000
1965	337,958,000		188,996,000		526,954,000
1966	342,612,000		204,210,000		546,822,000
1967	352,391,000		212,491,000		564,882,000
1968	346,592,000		210,114,000		556,706,000
1969	349,238,000		221,740,000		570,978,000
1970	340,530,000		272,131,000		612,661,000
1971	277,175,000		283,744,000		560,919,000
1972	305,046,000		297,446,000		602,492,000
1973	300,080,000		298,488,000		598,568,000
1974	277,966,000		332,057,000		610,023,000
1975	293,467,000		361,174,000		654,641,000
1976	295,464,000		389,449,000		684,913,000
1977	266,591,000		430,614,000		697,205,000
1978	242,772,000		427,392,000		670,164,000
1979	320,891,000		460,243,000		781,134,000
1980	337,508,000		492,192,000		829,700,000
1981	316,496,000		507,279,000		823,775,000
1982	339,152,000		498,960,000		838,112,000
1983	300,379,000		481,713,000		782,091,000
1984	352,050,000		543,870,000		895,920,767
1985	350,800,000		532,838,000		883,638,117
1986	360,438,000		529,877,000		890,314,708
1987	372,874,000		545,888,000		918,762,162
1988	382,156,000		568,109,000		950,265,278
1989	393,835,000		586,893,000		980,728,790
1990	424,546,000		604,529,000		1,029,075,527
1991	407,225,000		588,759,000		995,983,881
1992	407,239,000		590,306,000		997,544,933
1993	351,053,000		594,371,000		945,424,286
1994	399,103,000		634,401,000		1,033,504,293
1995	396,249,022		636,724,750		1,032,973,772
1996	409,848,871		654,006,642		1,063,855,513
1997	420,657,474		669,274,314		1,089,931,788
1998	417,727,882		699,807,285		1,117,535,167
1999	391,789,870		708,641,558		1,100,431,428
2000	373,658,726		699,952,835		1,073,611,561
2001	380,626,833		747,061,973		1,127,688,806
2002	357,384,967		736,898,094		1,094,283,061
2003	352,784,686		718,967,887		1,071,752,573
2004	367,557,255		744,541,615		1,112,098,870
2005	368,611,500		762,886,599		1,131,498,099
2006	359,021,815		803,727,844		1,162,749,659
2007	351,789,934		794,845,411		1,146,635,345
2008	357,079,371		814,729,298		1,171,808,669
2009	331,647,084		741,104,703		1,072,751,787
Total	21,256,213,290		26,059,158,808		47,315,373,840

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