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Sources of Labor Productivity Variation in the U.S. Surface Coal Mining Industry, 1960-1976

Libby Rittenberg and Ernest H. Manuel, Jr.

Year: 1987
Volume: Volume 8
Number: Number 1
DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol8-No1-6
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Abstract:
Our paper analyzes the sources of labor productivity variation in U.S. bituminous coal surface mining from 1960 to 1976. The coal mining industry was among the first to experience a prolonged decline in labor productivity in the post-World War II period. In surface mining nationally, labor productivity in 1977 was 26.6 tons per worker-day, or 28 percent less than the peak of 36.7 tons per worker-day achieved in 1973. Moreover, in several major coal-producing states, the decline began much earlier and was more dramatic. For example, in West Virginia (the first state to experience declining productivity) the loss in productivity between 1965, the year in which productivity in the state peaked, and 1976 was nearly 52 percent. Eastern Kentucky experienced an even larger drop of 56 percent between 1967 and 1976. It was only the expansion of surface mining to western states in the 1970s that delayed the appearance of a national decline in productivity until the early 1970s. The industry has thus foreshadowed the labor productivity declines that subsequently occurred in other industries.



Preserving Natural Environments on Coal Lands at Minimum Cost

William D. Watson

Year: 1996
Volume: Volume17
Number: Number 1
DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol17-No1-6
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Abstract:
In the U.S., about 67 billion tons of coal (27% of the nation's surface minable coal) have been placed off-limits to surface mining by the Federal Land Policy Management Act and other restrictions in order to protect the environment. By the year 2005, it is projected that this reduction in coal reserves will add about $500 million per year to the nation's energy costs. As set-aside costs grow and the locked-up coal is perceived as progressively more valuable over time, it is likely that pressure will be brought on the U. S. Department of the Interior to revise its resource management plans. As a general rule, a rational management objective is to achieve a given amount of environmental preservation at the lowest cost. This paper provides an analytic framework, namely constrained cost minimization, for implementing that objective. Examples are given for protecting sage grouse and eagle habitat.





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