This is in regard to the article, “Utah’s Bishop hails repeal of Obama rule on coal royalties.”
Most coal from public lands is mined in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, where most of these mining companies have been exploiting loopholes that allows them to pay fraudulently low royalties.
In 2016 alone, companies sold 316 million tons of coal from federal and Indian lands valued at $5.4 billion, generating close to $600 million in royalties, reported by Interior Department data. Because of archaic rules going back to the 1980s, these companies where able to sell their fuel to affiliates at low prices which they paid the royalties on and then later sold the coal at much higher prices, thus cheating out government and the states where the coal was mined out of millions of dollars, since the royalties are divided equally between state and federal revenue.
Obama officials had decided to correct these violations by increasing the royalty rate, which hasn’t been raised in over 30 years, and enforcing rules which would make the mining industry more transparent. Which was to begin in January, until the Trump administration put it on hold and then, just recently, repealed.
In essence, Rep. Bishop is hailing the renewed exploitation of coal companies, the freedom to pilfer and poach tax dollars from federal and state governments, including Utah.
Robert Hoff
Taylorsville