Economic Evaluation of OSM (Office of Surface Mining) Agronomic and Biological Sciences Regulations (Revegetation)

摘要

The report presents an economic evaluation of potential costs and benefits and the potential effects on small business entities associated with implementing rulemaking changes under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The general approach to assessing the economic impacts of compliance with the proposed rulemaking changes is summarized in the following steps: Analyze those regulations identifying the issues of potential economic impact. These issues are identified by comparing the existing and proposed regulations with pre-OSM State or Federal regulations. Estimate the cost of compliance with the existing set of regulations including all changes that were codified as of February 1, 1981, and the proposed regulations under consideration by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). Compare the incremental costs (cents/ton and cents/million Btu) for coal produced from the representative mines under the existing and proposed regulations. Compute the regional cost impacts using regional coal production data. Evaluate the benefits resulting from the implementation of the existing and proposed regulations. Benefits are evaluated qualitatively when quantitative values are not available.