This methane, which would otherwise
leak into the atmosphere over time, can be extracted economically by drilling into the coal seam.
Coal bed methane development, most of it at relatively shallow depths, has been expanding since
1989, starting in Alabama, New Mexico, and Colorado, and later in Utah, Virginia, and
Wyoming. Total U.S. production of coal bed methane reached almost 2 trillion cubic feet in
2008—10 percent of total U.S. gas production.