Organization And Presentation (Details)	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2011
Units owned by parent	15,544,169
Intermediate Partnership [Member] | Special General Partner [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	0.01%
Intermediate Partnership [Member] | Managing General Partner [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	1.0001%
RLP [Member] | Special General Partner [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	0.01%
RLP [Member] | Managing General Partner [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	0.99%
Managing General Partner [Member] | Alliance Coal [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	0.001%
Alliance Holdings GP [Member]
Subsidiaries holding percentage	100.00%