SOMERSET, Colo., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- This school year 32 Delta County teachers will initiate 28 innovative teaching projects funded by the Arch Coal Foundation.

The grants, totaling $10,000, were announced today by Don Vickers, general manager of Mountain Coal Company's West Elk mine in Somerset. Key components of the grants program are that the teachers must demonstrate innovation in their ideas and that the program must be replicable.

"This program enables our county's skilled, professional classroom teachers to obtain grants that will fund innovative teaching methods or projects in their classrooms and schools," said Vickers. "The judges were very pleased with both the scope and imagination shown in many of the more than 60 grant requests received this year.

"We expect some of these innovative, teacher-developed programs to begin within a few weeks in some schools," he added. "As the program matures, we hope to share some of the best ideas - those tested, successful and easily replicable - throughout the county and beyond."

The 2009 recipients, their schools and grants are listed at http://www.archcoal.com/community/teachinggrants.aspx.

Arch Coal's Mountain Coal Company and its West Elk mine are located in Somerset, Colo. Approximately 350 people are employed at West Elk. Arch Coal, Inc. is the nation's second largest coal producer. The company's core business is providing U.S. power generators with cleaner-burning, low-sulfur coal for electric generation. Through its national network of mines, Arch supplies the fuel for approximately 8 percent of the electricity generated in the United States. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACI) and maintains its corporate headquarters in St. Louis.

SOURCE Arch Coal, Inc.