The Making of Federal Coal Policy provides a unique record of—as well as important future perspectives on—one of the most significant ideological conflicts in national policymaking in the last decade. The management of federally owned coal, almost one-third of the U.S.'s total coal resources, has furnished an arena for the contest between energy development and environmental protection, as well as between the federal government and the states. Robert H. Nelson has written an important historical document and a useful guide for policy analysts. The Making of Federal Coal Policy By Robert H. Nelson Duke University Press Copyright © 1983 Duke University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8223-0497-5 Contents Preface, Introduction, Western Coal Production, Federal Coal Ownership, I. The Conservationist Foundations for Federal Coal Management, Introduction, 1. Conservationism and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, 2. Congressional Intent and Opposite Results, 3. The Strong Opposition to Western Coal Development, Part II. A Coal Program Based on a Planned Market, Introduction, 4. The Rejection of Central Planning and the Free Market, 5. A Planned Market Instead of a Free Market, 6. A New Economic Conservationism to Protect the Environment, III. Judicial Insistence on a Conservationist Federal Coal Policy, Introduction, 7. The Judiciary Debates Its Proper Role in Federal Coal Planning, 8. The Interior Department Tries to Resume Leasing, 9. The Judiciary Mandates Central Planning, IV. Conservationism Put to the Test, 10. A Lesser Role for the Coal Industry, 11. Central Planning in Operation in the United States, 12. Setting Coal-Leasing Targets, 13. The Advance and Retreat of Land-Use Planning, V. Two Interpretations of Welfare-State Liberalism, 14. Interest-Group Liberalism in Practice, 15. The Rediscovery of the Planned Market, VI. A Socialist Experiment in America, Introduction, 16. Lessons in Political Economy, 17. The Future of Federal Coal, Epilogue, Changes in the Coal-Leasing Program under the Reagan Administration, The 1970s All Over Again?, Notes, Index, CHAPTER 1 Conservationism and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 The management of federal coal is part of the history of the public lands—indeed, a generally obscure part until the 1970s. During the nineteenth century the policies to dispose of the public lands were among the central public issues of the day. One recent study commented that "the social, political and economic life of the United States was surrounded by questions of the public domain" during the nineteenth century. The Homestead Act, the railroad land grants, the range wars, and other episodes involving the public lands are now part of American folklore. The early laws for federal coal were mainly an adaptation of the general land laws to the special circumstances of federal coal. The Coal Land Laws Coal received no special treatment in the public land laws until the 1860s; until then, if someone needed coal from public lands, he simply acquired the land containing it and received the coal rights as well. But in 1864 Congress enacted the first legislation dealing specifically with federal coal resources. Reflecting a concern that federal lands already known to possess coal were worth much more than ordinary land, the legislation provided for sale of coal lands at public auction for a minimum price of $20 per acre (at that time the government sold ordinary land for a minimum of $1.25 per acre). In 1865 Congress modified the law to require that purchasers be miners and limited the acreage acquired to 160 acres. The Coal Lands Act of 1873 established a minimum price related to the distance from a railroad—$20 per acre for coal lands within fifteen miles and $10 beyond; it also provided for purchase of up to 640 acres by qualified associations. The 1873 Act subsequently controlled the sale of federal coal for almost fifty years until the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. Unlike coal, most minerals on the federal lands were disposed of under the location and patent system established by the Mining Law of 1872, which today is still the basic legislation for gold, silver, copper, and other "hardrock" minerals. Unless the land is withdrawn, prospectors are free to enter federal lands to explore for these minerals, file a claim if anything appears promising, and obtain a patent (ownership) if they can demonstrate the presence of a sufficiently valuable mineral deposit. The mining laws were designed to create the incentive to explore for minerals that were usually very hard to find. However, huge amounts of coal were already known to lie in continuous beds that sometimes could even be identified from visible surface outcroppings. Where coal was already known to be present, even if in uncertain amounts, it made more sense for the government to sell it, rather than give it away without charge. As a result, there was much less need to cr