 Coal mining occurs throughout many places in Wyoming, including here at the Black Butte Coal Mine. Some of the coal from this mine ends up at the Jim Bridger Power Plant, providing electricity for many parts of the United States. Black Butte Coal Mine was founded in 1974 and began shipping coal in 1979. The mine is a surface mine that utilizes a drag line to remove the overburden and trucks and front loaders to remove the coal. Surface coal mining typically involves a sequence of events. First, land is cleared and topsoil is removed. Second, the land surface over the coal seams are drilled and explosives are used to break up the material. The overburden is removed, followed by the coal. Then, reclamation of the land occurs. Black Butte produces coal from two to three active pits or mining areas, giving the company the ability to adjust the coal quality and producing approximately four million tons of coal per year. So the next time you turn on the lights or power up your computer, just think the fuel used to create that electricity could have come from the Black Butte Coal Mine. From the University of Wyoming Extension, I'm Tina Russell, Exploring the Nature of Wyoming.