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Coal trains being loaded at the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
credit:
Katie Campbell
The Secretary of Interior has formed a task force to determine if coal companies are underpaying royalties for coal mined on public land and sold in Asia. And it has confirmed it is investigating one coal company for potential criminal wrongdoing.
In a letter to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the Interior secretary announced the new task force and promised to aggressively pursue coal companies that violate the law. Wyden is concerned that companies, including several that wish to build export terminals in the Northwest, are fleecing taxpayers.
Patrick Etchart is with the Office of Natural Resource Revenue, which manages federal coal leases.
“We are committed to collecting every dollar due. We have started some audits, we will be conducting more, and we will determine if we got the proper value for the coal.”
Investigators want to know if coal companies are paying royalties based on low coal prices in the U.S., when they’re actually selling the coal at a higher price overseas. The Department of Interior also reported it is investigating one coal company for criminal wrongdoing, but did not elaborate.
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EarthFix is a public media project of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, KCTS 9 Seattle, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Northwest Public Radio and Television, Southern Oregon Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
