UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM 8-K


                                 CURRENT REPORT


                     Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
                         Securities Exchange Act of 1934


         Date of Report                     June 17, 2004


         Date of earliest event reported    June 15, 2004


                                THE BEARD COMPANY
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

          Oklahoma                       0-12396                73-0970298
(State or other jurisdiction of   (Commission File Number)   (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)                            Identification Number)


Enterprise Plaza
5600 N. May Avenue
Suite 320
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma                                        73112
(Address of principal executive offices)                     (Zip Code)

                                       N/A

          (Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

                                THE BEARD COMPANY

                                    FORM 8-K


Item 9.  Regulation FD Disclosure

Annual Stockholders Meeting

Formal Business.  At the Company's Annual  Stockholders  Meeting held June 15 in
Oklahoma City the  stockholders  approved the  following:  (1) Amendments to the
Company's  Certificate of  Incorporation to (i) increase the number of shares of
authorized  common stock from  7,500,000  to  15,000,000  and (ii)  facilitate a
two-for-one  stock split of the  Company's  common  stock;  (2) the  election of
Harlon E. Martin,  Jr. and Herb Mee, Jr. to serve as  directors  for  three-year
terms expiring in 2007;  and (3) adoption of The Beard Company  2003-2  Deferred
Stock  Compensation  Plan.  The stock split and the  amendment to the  Company's
Certificate of Incorporation  will not be effective until the date the amendment
is filed with the  Secretary  of State of the State of Oklahoma.  The  Company's
Board of Directors has the sole  discretion  to either  implement or abandon the
stock split and  amendment,  and in either case a press  release  will be issued
indicating its decision.

W. M. Beard, Chairman and CEO, then gave a report on operations:

Coal. The Company's Coal Segment is currently benefiting from the price increase
for natural gas. Natural gas reserves in the U.S. have been declining.  The U.S.
has only 3%-4% of the  world's  natural  gas  reserves  versus 25% of world coal
reserves. The U.S. is currently using coal for 52% of its power production;  the
demand for coal is increasing about 1.8% a year. Our coal reclamation activities
are concentrated in the Appalachians.  Demand for Appalachian coal has increased
sharply in recent months with no increase in supply. Our phone has been "ringing
off the  wall"  because  we are the only ones  that  have  concentrated  on this
technology for the last 10 years and believe we are the foremost experts in coal
reclamation.

Mr. Beard advised that we have several pond recovery  projects we are working on
currently,  which range from two to five million tons of recoverable  coal each.
They are all good  projects.  In addition,  we have a service  contract  that we
expect to sign in the next week or two.  We will use some of our coal  equipment
on this project,  which should  generate a good profit and help close the gap on
our negative  cash flow.  We have another  contract that we have been working on
for years that is now in the final  contract  stage.  We anticipate  having that
contract done soon also.  "We are very excited  about the outlook for coal.  The
big  challenge  will be coming up with the money to do the  projects  because it
will cost a lot of money for six or seven plants.  We believe we will find a way
to do it," Mr. Beard stated.

China.  "We have  numerous  projects  in China  which we are trying to firm up,"
Beard continued. However, we have sort of put them on the back burner because of
the coal  activity.  I am confident  that we will get a project  going there and
frankly I  consider  China  just as  exciting  as coal with  probably  a greater
future.  We have been  trying to raise money for a standard  plant,  which costs
about $5  million.  We have now  lowered  our sights and have been  working on a
mini-plant that would act as a demonstration  plant to prove that we can do what
we have been talking about. We are trying to get the cost on the mini-plant down
to $1  million.  We think the  economics  look good and we should be able to get
commitments to build the mini-plant  some time this year.  Once we get the money
for the  mini-plant it will take about six months to put together.  Then when we
prove the economics I think we will be able to raise sufficient capital to build
a big company in China."

Carbon  Dioxide.  The Company has interests in the McElmo Dome field and a small
interest in Bravo Dome.  Production reached 1 billion cubic feet a day at McElmo
earlier  this year.  Production  has dropped 30% or so the last couple of months
due to a technical  problem the operator has been working on. "However,  we have
been assured the demand is higher than it has ever been and production should be
back to the  billion  a day  level  after  this  month for the rest of the year.
There has  been a small increase in price and a much more  significant  increase
from lowering the pipeline  tariff.  So we will probably be getting in the range
of one-third more net income per month," Beard concluded.

Herb Mee, Jr., President and CFO, then gave a financial report:

Financial Results.  He recapped the Company's  financial results for 2003 versus
2002, and for the 2004 first quarter  versus the comparable  2003 first quarter.
He reported that the Company had just  completed the sale of $1,200,000 of notes
due November 30, 2006,  coupled with 4-year warrants to purchase common stock at
exercise  prices  ranging  from $0.27 to $0.46 per share.  This was an important
step for the  Company  since it provided  the working  capital to bridge the gap
until some of the coal projects we are pursuing start to generate  positive cash
flow.

Hidden  Values.  Mr. Mee then pointed out what he believes are hidden  values on
the Company's  balance sheet. The Company now believes that its interests in the
McElmo  Dome CO2 field have an  estimated  fair  market  value  (10%  discounted
present value) of $4,400,000  versus their  year-end book value of $329,000.  He
pointed  out that,  as  required  by FASB No.  144,  we were  required to impair
long-lived  assets in the Coal  Segment  in the  amount of  $1,561,000  in 2002.
Because of the tremendous increase in interest for our coal services,  we expect
to be employing  most of these assets,  which have been written down to zero, in
the near future which will benefit future financial results.  The net result, he
concluded,  is that "we have the most understated  balance sheet I've ever seen.
If our  negative net worth at March 31 were to give effect to these  values,  we
would be looking at an adjusted fair market value of  $2,652,000  instead of the
negative  $2,980,000 on a GAAP basis.  And this adjusted value gives no value at
all to any settlement or judgment that might result from the Visa lawsuit, which
could be zero or who-knows-what."

De Ja Vu.  Mee concluded by stating that he was having a feeling of de ja vu. He
pointed out the Company's  experience with USPCI,  Inc. which Bill Beard founded
in 1968.  "It rocked  along for 16 years doing  almost  nothing  until  industry
conditions changed  dramatically in 1984 and it virtually  exploded.  It grew by
leaps and bounds,  listed on the Big Board,  and got taken over by Union Pacific
in  1987-88  for  $396  million,  with  $111  million  going  to  Beard  and our
stockholders.  By comparison,  we went in the coal business in 1990, the segment
has rocked along for 14 years doing almost nothing,  and now industry conditions
have  dramatically  changed.  Will the end result be the same? Too soon to tell,
but we feel the  results  could be  comparable  if we succeed in  arranging  the
necessary  financing.  We have a lot of work to  do---stick  around and see what
happens," Mee concluded.

                           FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some  of  the  statements  made  at the  Annual  Stockholders  Meeting  included
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21e of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as  amended.  All  statement  other  than  statements  of  historical  facts are
forward-looking statements.  Although we believe that the expectations reflected
in such statements are reasonable,  we cannot assure you that such  expectations
will occur.  Our actual future  performance  could differ  materially  from such
statements  as a result  of many  factors,  including  but not  limited  to coal
prices, production costs, and recoverable reserves. Important factors that could
cause actual results to differ  materially from the Company's  expectations  are
disclosed  at pages 16-18 of the  Company's  Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2003.


                                   SIGNATURES

Pursuant  to the  requirements  of the  Securities  Exchange  Act of  1934,  the
Registrant  has duly  caused  this  report  to be  signed  on its  behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

                                       THE BEARD COMPANY

                                       /s/ Herb Mee, Jr.
                                       Herb Mee, Jr., President
June 17, 2004