ST. LOUIS, Sept 15, 2010 -- Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ACI) today announced that it again earned a spot on the InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. This marks the fifth consecutive year that Arch Coal has been ranked as one of the most innovative companies by InformationWeek. The 2010 list was announced last night at a gala awards ceremony held during the annual conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, Calif.

"We're honored to be recognized for five consecutive years as a leader in innovation by InformationWeek," said Chairman and CEO Steven F. Leer. "This award reflects the team's creativity and dedication to anticipating future business needs and delivering timely technological solutions to keep us at our best."

Arch Coal earned a spot on the 2010 InformationWeek 500 list for its recent business intelligence implementation. Arch's business intelligence platform helps drive deeper and more sophisticated reporting and analysis by integrating company data from both legacy and off-the-shelf applications.

"Our investment in business intelligence is already paying off," said David Hartley, Arch's vice president and chief information officer. "Currently the adoption rate of our data analytics platform is three times better than the national average. We're integrating a massive amount of data from disparate systems, leaving more time for strategic analysis and well-informed decisions."

Arch Coal is the only coal producer and one of only three natural resources companies among this year's InformationWeek 500.

InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America's best-known companies. Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at http://www.informationweek.com/iw500/2010/viewList/index.jhtml.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal is the second largest U.S. coal producer. Through its national network of mines, Arch supplies cleaner-burning, low-sulfur coal to fuel roughly 8 percent of the nation's electricity. The company also ships coal to domestic and international steel manufacturers as well as international power producers.