Here’s How Much Obama Cost Americans By Banning New Coal Leases
President Barack Obama’s decision to put a moratorium on new coal mine leases could end up costing Americans billions of dollars as more federal lands are locked up.
Instead, if Obama could have generated nearly $88 billion of economic activity from opening more federally-controlled lands to coal mining, according to a recent study by the free market Institute for Energy Research.
IER found that opening up lands locked-up by federal laws and regulations would be a huge boon to U.S. coal producers and states, like Wyoming and Montana, which sit atop the Powder River Basin coal deposit. The Institute’s experts estimate these two states are home to 86 billion short tons of recoverable coal reserves.
Opening up more lands to coal mining would also create more than 260,000 jobs in the long-run and result in huge revenue gains for state and local governments. The federal government would also get a nice revenue boost from opening up lands to coal mining.
See the article here.
- On January 21, 2016