Environmental Costs of Strip Mining of Texas Lignite

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Environmental Costs of Strip Mining of Texas
Lignite

• Area stripping
• Overburden not high sulfur
• Reclamation cost CT 0.055 CA/T
• CT Cost in cents per ton
• T coal seam thickness in feet
• CA reclamation cost in dollars per acre (200
  in Texas, adequate rainfall for revegetation)

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Table 3-5Estimates of Land Reclamation Costs for
Surface Mining of Coal
Coal Type /Acre /Ton Coal /1012 Btu
Midwest Lignite 500-4,500 0.10-0.25 8,000-22,000
Western Coal 1,500-6,000 0.20-1.00 11,500-59,000
Eastern Coal 4,000-6,500 2.00-5.00 90,000-230,000
Basis 1980 constant dollars.
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Average Mine Price of Coal by Supply Region,
Survey Data 1999-2002
Source EIA-7A Coal Production Report, file data
Dollars per Short Ton
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Coal Bed Methane.

• Methane physically adsorbs onto coal
• Can desorb methane by..
• Reducing pressure (pumping water)
• Injecting carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc.
• Features.
• Very shallow production (cheap)
• Plentiful--nearly every coal bed has methane with
  it
• Must produce a lot of water
• Economical at gt2/MCF

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Producing Coal Bed Methane
From Wiser, 2000