U.S. Department of Energy’sEnergy Information Administration revealed that total U.S. coal production was 22.74 million short tons in the week ended September 27.

Production so far in 2008 is 1.2 percent higher than at the same point in 2007.

This compared to 22.56 million short tons in the previous week. In the comparable week last year, the country produced 22.63 million short tons of coal.

In the three biggest coal-producing states, output increased in Kentucky and West Virginia, but dipped somewhat in Pennsylvania.

For 2008 so far, the country has produced 860.6 million short tons of coal, the government said. This was up 1.2 percent from the total of 850.4 milion produced by this point in 2007.

Pennsylvania’s coal production is down 0.2 percent so far this year, while West Virginia and Kentucky have seen gains of 3.3 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

For the span of the past 52 weeks, 1.151 billion short tons have been produced, up 0.3 percent from the previous 52-week period, when 1.147 billion short tons were produced.

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