Assessment of negotiation options for coal-lease sales

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:7048967

Rothkopf, M H; McGuire, C B

The Commission on Fair Market Value Policy for Federal Coal Leasing recommended that the government have authority to negotiate a fair price for coal leases when competitive bids cannot be obtained. This report analyzes the choices the government faces in designing a coal lease sale mechanism. It considers the impact of the alternatives on economic efficiency, government revenue, administrative workability, fairness and the appearance of fairness. The report concludes that there are advantageous ways for the government to negotiate coal leases when there is only one serious potential bidder for a lease. First, the report notes the advantages of negotiating exchanges that leave the government with economically logical potentially minable tracts. It also notes the advantages of negotiating shares for the ''cooperative leasing'' by auction of such tracts. For other one bidder tracts, the report concludes that there are potential advantages to ease negotiation provided that: (1) all negotiations are tentative subject to ''validation'' of their one bidder nature in a post-negotiation formal sale process, (2) the government negotiate on more leases than it will conclude, using whenever possible, a ''round-robin'' negotiation procedure, (3) government employees and not independent agents negotiate for the government, and (4) negotiations are narrowly confined to the amount of bonus. The report also suggests that the government may wish to consider use of final-offer arbitration on those leases, such as bypasses, on which both the government and the private party have high interest in reaching an agreement.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 7048967
• Report Number(s): LBL-22501; ON: DE87007892
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
015000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects
017000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Legislation & Regulations
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
LAND USE
LEASES
MATERIALS
PUBLIC LANDS
SALES