Interior Secretary Ken Salazar appears to have vastly overstated the economic benefits of coal lease sales in the Powder River Basin in announcing his department's decision to advance lease sales of 758 million tons of coal earlier this week, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.
Salazar said Tuesday the sales "would add between $13.4 billion and $21.3 billion to government coffers over the life of the leases — numbers repeated by media outlets worldwide, including the Star-Tribune," Jeremy Fugleberg writes for the newspaper. "The likely total is far lower, or the amount you get if you move the decimal point over one spot to the left."
"That was off by a factor of 10," Marion Loomis, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, told Fugleberg. Loomis said the proceeds from 758 million tons of coal would more likely produce about $2 billion, with almost half of that going to state coffers. An Interior Department representative referred the Star-Tribune to a Bureau of Land Management spokesperson who did not respond to several calls. "A spokeswoman for the Wyoming BLM office said the office was looking into the numbers," Fugleberg writes.
"Salazar’s numbers would mean the government would get $17 to $28 per ton of the newly available coal," Fugleberg writes. "But that number is considerably higher than the current spot sale price for a ton of coal" in the basin. The federal Energy Information Administration reports a ton of 8,800-BTU Powder River coal is selling for $13.65. (Read more)
Salazar said Tuesday the sales "would add between $13.4 billion and $21.3 billion to government coffers over the life of the leases — numbers repeated by media outlets worldwide, including the Star-Tribune," Jeremy Fugleberg writes for the newspaper. "The likely total is far lower, or the amount you get if you move the decimal point over one spot to the left."
"That was off by a factor of 10," Marion Loomis, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, told Fugleberg. Loomis said the proceeds from 758 million tons of coal would more likely produce about $2 billion, with almost half of that going to state coffers. An Interior Department representative referred the Star-Tribune to a Bureau of Land Management spokesperson who did not respond to several calls. "A spokeswoman for the Wyoming BLM office said the office was looking into the numbers," Fugleberg writes.
"Salazar’s numbers would mean the government would get $17 to $28 per ton of the newly available coal," Fugleberg writes. "But that number is considerably higher than the current spot sale price for a ton of coal" in the basin. The federal Energy Information Administration reports a ton of 8,800-BTU Powder River coal is selling for $13.65. (Read more)
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