ST. LOUIS (June 6, 2005) - Larry R. Brown, veteran Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ACI) vice president and chief information officer, today announced that he will retire effective July 1.

Arch Coal's board of directors has elected Michael T. Abbene to succeed Brown. Abbene will be responsible for information systems operations, applications and infrastructure for the entire corporation, including its subsidiaries. He will report to C. Henry Besten, senior vice president of strategic development.

For the past five years, Abbene has served as Arch Coal's director of application services. Prior to joining Arch Coal, he was employed with Monsanto and affiliated companies for almost 20 years, and has a total of 35 years of professional experience in information technology. Abbene has a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and management science from Northwestern University and a master of business administration degree from Southern Illinois University.

"With his years of professional management experience and his thorough understanding of Arch Coal's systems, Michael is a natural fit for the CIO position," says Besten.

Brown served as Arch Coal's sole CIO since the company was founded in 1997. During his tenure, Arch Coal won numerous awards for technology leadership and innovation, including the highly competitive CIO 100 Award.

"Larry has made significant contributions to Arch Coal and its predecessor companies for nearly 35 years," says Besten. "His focus on people and process improvements made him very successful during his career. We wish Larry the very best in his retirement."

St. Louis-based Arch Coal is the nation's second largest coal producer, with subsidiary operations in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Through these operations, Arch Coal provides the fuel for approximately 7% of the electricity generated in the United States.