Accession Number:

ADA106667

Title:

How Interior Should Handle Congressionally Authorized Federal Coal Lease Exchanges.

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC ENERGY AND MINERALS DIV

Personal Author(s):

Report Date:

1981-08-06

Pagination or Media Count:

68.0

Abstract:

Lease exchanges increasingly have been considered by both the Congress and the Department of the Interior as a way of redirecting coal or other resource development to more desirable areas on public lands. This report, a followup of an earlier GAO report to Interior, illustrates how Interior handled its evaluation of a proposed exchange of coal lands, specifically authorized by the Congress, involving the Utah Power and Light Company. The present administration recently rejected the exchange however, Interiors previous 2-year effort in evaluating the proposal provides many important lessons and identifies some key issues that must be resolved in handling any future exchanges, including the need to -- first validate the basis and appropriateness for any exchange, -- ensure the availability of sufficient data to determine equal value, -- consider potential competitive leasing interest in the exchange lands, and -- develop better procedures generally to manage the exchange. Author

Descriptors:

• *PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• *LAND USE
• *LEASING
• *COAL MINES
• UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
• PLANNING
• RESOURCES
• EXCHANGE
• UTAH
• ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY

Subject Categories:

• Administration and Management

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE