Summary: Under a new Federal coal management program, competitive leasing will begin in January 1981. The Department of the Interior estimates that there will be over 17 billion tons of coal under existing leases. GAO believes, however, that this figure may be misleading. The vast majority of leases were issued before the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act made many land areas environmentally or economically unsuitable for mining. It is, therefore, difficult to know whether the 1981 leasing targets of the Department of Interior will make enough coal available to meet demand in the 1985-1990 timeframe. The Secretary of the Interior should take several actions before new long-term leasing can be resumed. An analysis needs to be made of the production potential of existing leases in order to determine how much coal must be made available to satisfy demand under the emerging program. Coal production goals as well as demand estimates for other resources should be considered by the Department of Interior in the initial development of comprehensive land use plans. This is particularly important because land use plans developed over the next several years will affect the level of resource usage on Federal lands for the remainder of this century and beyond. The Department of Interior also needs to evaluate the impact of the surface owner consent requirement, since this will affect the economics and ultimate leasability of proposed new tracts. Final regulations are needed specifying how maximum economic recovery determinations will be made and what factors will be considered in establishing logical mining units.
