Office of Coal

HGEO Acting Assistant Secretary Curt Coccodrilli at Belle Ayr Coal Mine in Gillette, Wyoming

The Office of Coal supports HGEO’s goals through the following objectives:

Modernize and extend the life of our existing coal mines and coal-based power fleet.
Optimize efficiencies across the extraction, capture, processing, and power generation value chain.
Support the growth of coal-based power generation, and product manufacturing.
Identify and support development opportunities for additional U.S. coal export capacity.

Divisions

The Office of Coal includes three divisions aligned with industry, 1) Mining & Processing, 2) Conversion & Products, and 3) Power & Capture.

Modernize coal mining and processing, extend the life of existing mines, and grow the industry by enabling recovery of coal from seams previously considered unmineable.
Mining safety and efficiency improvement via artificial intelligence tools, robotics and automation, digital twins, etc.
Plasma-assisted advanced processing
Enhanced coalbed methane recovery and underground gasification
Reduce technical barriers to increase U.S. exports of metallurgical and thermal coal
Bolster domestic energy security, resilience, and production via coal-derived fuels, chemicals, and products. Generate opportunities for new export markets for coal-derived products.
High-value carbon-based materials from coal
Conversion of waste to products (graphite, carbon fibers, pitch, etc.)
Cost-effective and selective upgrading of coal by-products to fuels and chemicals
Gasification
Modernize existing coal power assets
Capture and conversion of plant waste streams (carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, wastewater, and coal combustion residuals) to co-products (incremental hydrocarbons produced via carbon dioxide-enhanced recovery, gypsum, etc.) to diversify revenue stream
High efficiency designs, oxy-combustion, chemical looping, and flexible operation
Utilize captured carbon dioxide to boost domestic energy production through carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery

National Coal Council Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The National Coal Council
Originally established in 1984, the National Coal Council (NCC) provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on general policy matters relating to coal and the coal industry. After being disbanded by the Biden Administration in 2021, the NCC was reinstated in the Summer of 2025. The NCC held its first meeting at the White House on January 15, 2026.
The NCC is currently working on two studies for the Secretary:
Considerations for Maintaining and Growing the U.S. Coal Fleet
Opportunities to Expand U.S. Coal Export Options

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