"Obama's Proposed Rule Could Mean Mining Public-Land Coal for Free"

"Recently proposed federal rules on mining royalties, intended to close loopholes that subsidize exports of coal mined from public lands, may instead end up giving away the coal to the industry for free, according to an environmentalist think tank.

Cut-rate royalties have persistently shortchanged the public, according to critics, when vast expanses of public land are leased by the government to coal mining companies.  But this newly disclosed flaw in the Obama administration’s plan to fix the problem means that its solution might backfire, eliminating royalties completely in some circumstances.

Royalty payments are supposed to be 12.5 percent of  gross proceeds from the sale of the coal, minus deductions for some transport and other costs. Because of loopholes, mining companies have been paying less than that for years. Even so, the payments rake in about $1 billion a year."

John H. Cushman Jr. reports for InsideClimate News May 8, 2015.