Abstract
The international coal mining industry has experienced serious recent downturns, particularly in the electricity generating market, with steady declines projected into the future. In the United States, increased production from the natural gas sector has made coal-fired power production less competitive, and natural gas power plants are replacing aging coal-fired plants. As such, many of the larger coal companies are in or have recently been in bankruptcy, leaving all coal mining states in the United States at risk for liabilities from abandoned unreclaimed coal mines. Because of the various laws and regulations surrounding the permitting of coal mines, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia employ some form of alternative bonding systems, and Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming employ self-bonding, which allows a coal operator to reduce its secured bond. These alternative bonding systems do not contemplate the risk of a large-scale industry downturn, leaving states at risk for hundreds of millions of dollars of liabilities to reclaim abandoned coal mines and protect the environment and its residents.We examined the reclamation bonds for all coal mines in West Virginia and found that West Virginia faces significant gaps between counties and watershed for the amount of the secured funding for site-specific reclamation. Significant disparities exist such that some residents are much more impacted by the amount of coal mining, as well as the amount of site-specific bonding. We also found that the areas most impacted by the amount of coal mining and reduced site-specific bonding are in the areas with the worst health outcomes. This is a concern for all regions with all types of extractive industries: how to maximize industry while protecting the environment and its residents. Moving forward, states should reconfigure bonding systems to alleviate these risks and burdens on its citizens to prepare for continued declines within the coal industry.
Published Version
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