EXHIBIT 31.1


                        Certification of CEO Pursuant to
                 Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14
                             as Adopted Pursuant to
                  Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Daniel A. Roling, certify that:

         1.       I have  reviewed  this annual  report on Form 10-K of National
Coal Corp.;

         2.       Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

         3.       Based on my  knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other
financial  information  included in this annual  report,  fairly  present in all
material respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows
of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4.       The   registrant's   other   certifying   officer  and  I  are
responsible for establishing and maintaining  disclosure controls and procedures
(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal  control
over  financial  reporting  (as  defined in  Exchange  Act Rules  13a-15(f)  and
15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

                  a)       Designed such disclosure controls and procedures,  or
         caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
         supervision,  to  ensure  that  material  information  relating  to the
         registrant,  including its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known to
         us by others within those entities,  particularly  during the period in
         which this report is being prepared;

                  b)       Designed   such  internal   control  over   financial
         reporting,  or caused such internal control over financial reporting to
         be designed  under our  supervision,  to provide  reasonable  assurance
         regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
         financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally
         accepted accounting principles;

                  c)       Evaluated  the   effectiveness  of  the  registrant's
         disclosure  controls and  procedures  and  presented in this report our
         conclusions  about the  effectiveness  of the  disclosure  controls and
         procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on
         such evaluation; and

                  d)       Disclosed   in  this   report   any   change  in  the
         registrant's  internal  control over financial  reporting that occurred
         during the  registrant's  most recent fiscal quarter (the  registrant's
         fourth  fiscal  quarter  in the  case of an  annual  report)  that  has
         materially affected, or

         5.       The  registrant's   other   certifying   officer  and  I  have
disclosed,  based  on our  most  recent  evaluation  of  internal  control  over
financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the
registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

                  a)       All significant  deficiencies and material weaknesses
         in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
         which  are  reasonably  likely to  adversely  affect  the  registrant's
         ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
         and

                  b)       Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves
         management  or  other  employees  who  have a  significant  role in the
         registrant's internal control over financial reporting.


Date:  April 15, 2008
                                           /S/ DANIEL A. ROLING
                                           -------------------------------------
                                           Daniel A. Roling
                                           Chief Executive Officer