How Interior Should Handle Congressionally Authorized Federal Coal Lease Exchanges

Highlights

GAO examined the experience of the Department of the Interior in handling a proposed exchange of federal coal lands involving the Utah Power and Light Company, an exchange authorized by Congress in October 1978.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of the Interior	The Secretary of the Interior should direct USGS to set standards for the minimum level of data that are needed to evaluate a proposed exchange and not allow the exchange where that level of data is not available.	Closed – Not Implemented Interior's position is that each coal exchange is a unique, one-time administrative activity for which formal procedures, guidelines, etc., are unnecessary. No further follow-up is warranted.
Department of the Interior	The Secretary of the Interior should direct USGS to establish definitive criteria for determining when the discounted cash flow economic evaluation method is appropriate for use in exchange evaluations.	Closed – Not Implemented Interior's position is that each coal exchange is a unique, one-time administrative activity for which formal procedures, guidelines, etc., are unnecessary. No further follow-up is warranted.
Department of the Interior	The Secretary of the Interior should direct USGS to revise USGS Bulletin 1450-B or establish separate guidelines to clarify guidance on how reserve estimates are to be made for lease sale purposes, particularly in instances where coal deposits reside in complex geologic formations.	Closed – Not Implemented Interior's position is that each coal exchange is a unique, one-time administrative activity for which formal procedures, guidelines, etc., are unnecessary. No further follow-up is warranted.
Department of the Interior	The Secretary of the Interior should direct USGS to develop explicit procedures under which the land exchange applicants could, and should, drill possible exchange tracts, thereby saving federal expenditures and freeing the USGS limited resources to satisfy other higher priority drilling requirements.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Full Report

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Energy

Coal leasesLand leasesLand managementLeasing policiesPublic landsCoalMiningFair market valueBid proposalsExpenditure of funds