Coal is always a controversial topic that has been making headlines for several reasons. The effect on global warming, health effects for miners, and the changing way people care where their energy comes from has negatively effected the industry. Although these effects cannot be ignored, neither can the importance of the resource and its abundance. Although decreasing, coal is still the primary source of electricity within the United States and with 25% of the worlds coal reserves, peak coal is not predicted for another 100 years. Due to the importance of this resource, coal mines have a direct role in how countries provide electricity. The efficiency of coal mines is something that has not been extensively studied in the United States, especially when taking into account union status and the geology of the coal itself. Coal is ranked based upon the carbon abundance and is separated into peat, sub-bituminous, bituminous, and anthracite. Coal regions in the united states generally contain more of one type then the others due to different timing and conditions for formation. I will use inputs such as union status, coal rank, labor, and a measure of mine size (likely represented by amount of machinery). Output will be production of coal based on abundance of coal reserves. This will be done with either production function or the use of data envelopment analysis. The results of this will be further explained with knowledge of coal rank and abundance and how these factors could impact production. We expect to find that unionized coal mines targeting anthracite coal will be the most efficient, but not the most profitable. This will likely be non-union mines targeting bituminous coal.