The Uinta Basin is an east-west asymmetrical syncline located in Utah and Colorado over approximately 14,450 sq mi. For the purpose of this report, the Uinta Basin includes the Wasatch Plateau, a southwest-trending appendage from the Uinta Basin. The in-place coalbed methane resource is estimated to be at least 0.8 and possibly as much as 4.6 Tcf. This resource was evaluated based on desorption data from the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey and Mountain Fuel Resources, Inc.

Major coal-bearing strata of the Uinta Basin and Wasatch Plateau are contained in the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale and Mesaverde Group. The area contains seven coal fields or regions located along the perimeter of the basinal area. The Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs coal fields are the most extensively developed of the seven, and their major coal deposits are found in the Mesaverde Group Blackhawk and Price River Formations. Little is known about the coal resource at depth in the basin.