An economic framework for analyzing reclamation after energy extraction in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming

摘要

Wyoming's economy is highly dependent on natural gas and coal production, but energy extraction degrades rangelands. Federal and state laws and policies govern reclamation of disturbed lands. However, establishing sagebrush plant communities is difficult and defining successful reclamation can be challenging.;We analyze reclamation costs in the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming using coal company annual reclamation reports. We also construct a probabilistic mathematical programming model that characterizes a coal company's reclamation decision-,making process and proposes a way to incorporate uncertainty into reclamation modeling. We also use results from a plant sciences field experiment to incorporate costs into optimal seed mix and herbicide choice. This thesis also draws attention to the disconnect between the data biologists collect and the data that economists need to model reclamation decision-making.