Bituminous Coal

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Why this Information Is Important: Know what the coal exported in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point is made of and where it comes from. Most of this coal is used to make steel. Coal is brittle and can break into tiny particles containing harmful metals like lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and selenium. This information can help residents understand their exposure risks, ask questions, and document the conditions in their neighborhoods. It can help researchers identify coal dust from other pollution sources.

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Use and Composition

Bituminous coal is burned for steel production rather than electricity production. This coal may also be called metallurgical coal or coking coal.

Bituminous coal is dense yet brittle, dark brown to black in color, and possibly shiny in appearance. Because of its brittleness, the coal rocks can fragment, creating smaller particles that can then be uplifted into the atmosphere by winds or the motion of moving train cars causing coal dust.

  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
  • Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.
    Photograph: Coal rocks collected just outside the Dominion Terminal Associates fenceline, December 2025. Photograph by Robin Truong.

Coal also contains so-called chalcophile elements. Chalcophile means "sulfur-loving." Chalcophiles include toxic metals such as lead (Pb), selenium (Se), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg). These metals are known to cause cancer and other adverse health effects even at low levels.[1] The amounts of these elements relative to other elements can be used to distinguish coal in dust from other types of dust.

Other components of coal are its volatile matter, which refers to the compounds in coal that evaporate when it is heated. The volatile matter content determines whether coal can be used in steelmaking, distinguishing bituminous coal from other types of coal.

Geological Formation and Mining and Export Today

Bituminous coal was formed in ancient tropical swamps 300 million years ago and is mined today in locations that include the coal seams of the Appalachian Basin in West Virginia.[2][3] The swamps were home to plants such as scale, seed ferns, and true ferns. When these plants died, a thick bed of peat was created on the swamp floor. Because the peat bed lacked oxygen, coal was formed through a process known as coalification. Coalification occurs over millions of years, with layers of peat continually compressed during this time by local sediments and rocks. The pressure and heat of this overlaying process converts peat to lignite, a form of low-quality coal.

About 100 million years ago, the sea level rose dramatically and the ocean moved into these freshwater peat swamps. The seawater brought sulfur, marine shale, sandstone, and limestone to the coal bed. The lignite layers were pressed and heated over time, losing water and concentrating carbon, eventually turning into bituminous coal.[4]

In the Appalachian Basin, and West Virginia in particular, the land sank in areas where peat built up, creating over 100 separate coal layers across the state.[5] Bituminous coal with low volatile matter from the Pocahontas Formation and New River Formation, especially the Beckley and Sewell coal beds, have been mined extensively.[6]

Coal from the Appalachian Basin continues to be transported by rail to major East Coast ports for global distribution, including the Port of Virginia, which consists of the Dominion Terminal Associates and Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals in Southeast Newport News and the Norfolk Southern Terminal in Lambert's Point, Norfolk, as well as the Curtis Bay Coal Piers in Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland.

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You can also email the Repair Lab at editor@voicesinthedust.org or call, text, or send a voice memo to (757) 317-0356. If you prefer, a Repair Lab team member can record your story in person or collect physical materials to digitize and then return them to you.

Do you suspect there is coal dust on your property? The Repair Lab is collecting dust samples from inside the homes of residents in Southeast Newport News. Read more: Got Dust?

Elected and government officials respond to sustained pressure from their constituents. If you suspect there is coal dust on your property, take photographs, videos, and describe your experience in a complaint to the Newport News City Council or Norfolk City Council, your elected House Delagate and Senator in Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) Tidewater Office, Virginia Air Pollution Control Board (APCB), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 3 Office. Contact information and sample language for your call and/or email are available on these pages.

Sources

  1. ↑ Senior et al., Toxic Substances from Coal Combustion—A Comprehensive Assessment, 2001.
  2. ↑ Milici et al., Bituminous Coal Production in the Appalachian Basin: Past, Present, and Future, Chapter D.3 of Coal and Petroleum Resources in the Appalachian Basin: Distribution, Geologic Framework, and Geochemical Character, Edited by Ruppert and Ryder, Professional Paper 1708-D.3, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 2014.
  3. ↑ Tewalt et al., Coal Assessments and Coal Research in the Appalachian Basin, Chapter D.4 of Coal and Petroleum Resources in the Appalachian Basin: Distribution, Geologic Framework, and Geochemical Character, Edited by Ruppert and Ryder, Professional Paper 1708-D.4, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 2014.
  4. ↑ Arnold, Coal Formation, The Coal Handbook, Edited by Osborne, Woodhead Publishing, 2023.
  5. ↑ Bowen et al., The Broad Economic Impact of West Virginia Metallurgical Coal in the United States, West Virginia University (WVU) Bureau of Business and Economic Research, 2023.
  6. ↑ Coal Bed Mapping Project, West Virginia Geological & Economic Survey, 2023.
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