Coal companies get sweetheart deals on federal leases, shortchange taxpayers

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/coal-companies-get-sweetheart-deals-on-federal-leases-shortchange-taxpayers/

?w=250&h=166


As if climate disruption, air pollution, health problems, and landscape destruction weren’t bad enough, here’s another reason to hate the coal industry: Coal companies are shortchanging U.S. taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars they should be paying for the rights to mine federal land.

A new report [PDF] from the inspector general of the Interior Department reveals that the Bureau of Land Management routinely underestimates the value of coal, letting companies like Peabody and Arch Coal snap up federal mining rights for a song, often with little or no competition. More than 80 percent of coal leases up for auction in the past 20 years received only one bid, the report found.

The New York Times reports:

The report said that the process by which the value of the leases is computed is faulty, costing the government millions. At the current rate of coal leasing, the inspector general found, every penny-a-ton undervaluation costs the taxpayers $3 million.

Further, the Bureau of Land Management allows coal companies to expand their leaseholdings by as much as 960 acres with no competitive bidding and little oversight, the report says. The bureau has approved 45 such lease modifications since 2000 without adequate documentation, the report states, potentially costing taxpayers $60 million.

[bahrbearian]

1. They are planning on shipping that coal through 3 Northwest Ports

It will be sold to China for $1 a ton, It will be burnt there and the pollution will eventually end up here. So why can't I buy coal for a $1 a ton , burn it in my home and we can save the shipping cost.