Economic impact of back-to-contour reclamation of surface coal mines in Appalachia: the TVA Massengale Mountain project. Final report

In response to both growing demand for surface mined coal and environmental awareness, since the early seventies, the federal government has sought to establish minimum standards of surface mine reclamation. Much of the debate surrounding past attempts to enact a federal surface mine reclamation law have centered upon the economic impact of requiring back-to-approximate-original-contour reclamation. Perhaps the most widely held fear has been that such a strict reclamation standard would cripple the coal industry and greatly hinder America's chances of achieving some measure of energy independence. An attempt is made to analyze, in a rational and dispassionate manner, the potential economic consequences of back-to-contour experimental mine at Massengale Mountain, Tennessee. Both the Massengale project and this study have been funded by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).