Economics Of Mining Coal In Iowa

The Department of Economics at Iowa State University has three major areas of research responsibility as a part of the Iowa Coal Research Project 1) economic analysis of the feasibility of a major Iowa coal producing industry, 2) analysis of the legal dimensions of mining coal in Iowa, and 3) economic analysis of the coal transportation network in Iowa. This paper summarizes research results from the economic feasibility study in an Executive Summary format. Distribution is intended for persons on and off the Iowa State University campus who are interested in the basic results, but are not concerned specifically with the research methodology employed; consequently, this paper will not discuss in detail the mathematical model used in the feasibility analysis or the development and justification of the input data. Rather, the purpose of this discussion is to present the economic climate in which the Iowa coal industry competes and the general results of the economic analyses performed to date. More detailed analyses in the feasibility area are listed in the References section [14, 15 16]