Office of Coal

The Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office’s (HGEO’s) Office of Coal leads and supports the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to stabilize, optimize, and grow the entire coal industry value chain and restore coal as a cornerstone of the U.S. energy mix.

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.

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

Divisions

Mining & Processing

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 

Conversion & Products

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

Power & Capture

• 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 

Initiatives

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

For more information on NCC visit: https://www.ncc.energy.gov/ncc/ 

Last Updated: March 31, 2026