Domestic Coal Market Report

Northern Plains Resource Council
Completed April 2013

Synapse wrote a report for the Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC) that addressed the following question: Is the U.S. domestic market for coal expected to grow over the next several decades? The report provided expert judgment on the likelihood of a robust future for the domestic coal market and discussed the challenges facing developers of the Otter Creek coal mine in Ashland, Montana. We found that domestic demand for coal has declined by 14 percent since its historical peak in 2007, and the future of coal for U.S. power generation is uncertain at best.