Preserving Natural Environments on Coal Lands at Minimum Cost

Abstract

In the U.S., about 67 billion tons of coal (27% of the nation's surface minable coal) have been placed off-limits to surface mining by the Federal Land Policy Management Act and other restrictions in order to protect the environment. By the year 2005, it is projected that this reduction in coal reserves will add about $500 million per year to the nation's energy costs. As set-aside costs grow and the locked-up coal is perceived as progressively more valuable over time, it is likely that pressure will be brought on the U. S. Department of the Interior to revise its resource management plans. As a general rule, a rational management objective is to achieve a given amount of environmental preservation at the lowest cost. This paper provides an analytic framework, namely constrained cost minimization, for implementing that objective. Examples are given for protecting sage grouse and eagle habitat.

Impacts on terrestrial and streamside herpetofauna by mountaintop removal mining in southern West Virginia

“…Third, the advent of the dragline permits 100% extraction of the resource at a fast rate and makes it economically feasible to mine thin seams of coal. Fourth, in recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in demand for electricity in the United States, and with this demand, comes a corresponding increase in need for coal (Loeb, 1997;Gerena, 2001), as over 50% of electricity in this country is provided by coal (Watson, 1996).…”