The Bureau of Mines and United States Steel Corp. are conducting a joint project to monitor formation pressures at a large (23-well) coalbed gas drainage field near Oak Grove, AL. Three monitor holes were drilled in late 1981, and pressure monitoring began in December 1981. The Bureau of Mines direct method was used to obtain gas content data from cores taken in the monitor holes. Comparison of the 1981 gas content data from the monitor holes with initial gas content values obtained from the production wells in 1977 indicates a 50% reduction in adsorbed gas content inside the pattern and a 29% reduction at one point 500 ft outside the pattern.