Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act should increase production and public benefits from coal leasing on federal land

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1976 · Nat. Resour. J.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7210162

Taylor, J

Because of ownership and leasing patterns, the government effectively controls 80 percent of known reserves in the Far West. In the states of Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado the Department of the Interior has issued 463 leases covering 680,000 acres. The department estimates that there are fifteen billion tons of recoverable coal under these existing leases, which is 25 times the amount of coal produced in the entire U.S. in 1973. Yet nearly 90 percent of these leases, some of which are over 40 years old, have never produced a ton of coal. In its 54 years of existence the Federal leasing program has accounted for less than 1 percent of the nation's coal. The Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1975 amends the Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920 to provide more rigorous guidelines for coal mining operations, especially in the western United States, by eliminating speculative holding of Federal coal leases and insuring that leases will be developed on a timely basis and in a manner which is beneficial to the public. To accomplish these objectives the Act provides for several new procedures designed to increase both production of coal on federal lands and government income derived from that production. Several provisions of the act are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 7210162
• Journal Information: Nat. Resour. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Nat. Resour. J.; (United States) Vol. 16:4; ISSN NRJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
017000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Legislation & Regulations
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL INDUSTRY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INDUSTRY
LEASING
LEGISLATION
NORTH AMERICA
PUBLIC LANDS
RESOURCES
USA