In October 2025, ARIPPA released an updated report prepared by Econsult Solutions, Inc., a Philadelphia-based economic consulting firm, analyzing the economic and environmental benefits of Pennsylvania’s coal refuse reclamation to energy industry. This report builds off the 2016 and 2019 reports and incorporates recent research on the net air improvements of industry operations.

According to the latest report, the industry contributes $697 million per year to the Pennsylvania economy, supports at least 2,200 jobs, and provides $62 million in annual environmental and public benefits on top of the up to $281 million in annual avoided costs to the Commonwealth from the remediation performed by the industry. A copy of the final report is available here.

What is ARIPPA?
Organized in 1989, the Appalachian Region Independent Power Producers Association (ARIPPA) is a non-profit trade association comprised of independent electric power producers, environmental remediators, and service providers located in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia that use coal refuse as a fuel to generate electricity. Utilizing circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler technology to convert both anthracite and bituminous coal refuse into electricity, ARIPPA plants also provide unique multimedia environmental benefits by combining the production of energy with the removal of coal refuse piles and reclamation of the land for productive purposes.

https://www.senatorargall.com/2019/10/18/october-2019-panther-creek-energy-facility/