Dr. Ian Lange, assistant professor with the Division of Economics and Business and director of the Mineral and Energy Economics program, was awarded funding from the Department of Energy in conjunction with Resources for the Future to study the impact of federal coal leasing policy on (non-federal) Eastern coal mine operations.

The proposed project will determine whether existing coal mines close prematurely due to leasing and permitting factors for new mines. The analysis will compare mines located on different land tenure (federal, state, and private), with differential access to power plants (minemouth, competition from other basins), and under different economic conditions (price of substitute fuels, number of plant retirements). A number of measures of mine health will be utilized (productivity, current recoverable reserves, proxies for investments made) as indicators for the economic health of the mine which are tied to closing decisions.