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Trigg, Andrew B. and Dubourg, W. Richard (1993). Valuing the environmental impacts of open cast coalmining: the case of the Trent Valley in North Staffordshire. Open Discussion Papers in Economics 1; Economics Department, The Open University.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.00015eab
Abstract
Opencast coal-mining is often associated with extensive environmental costs, which are not usually accounted for in financial appraisals of opencast projects. We examine the case of a proposal for an opencast mine in the Trent Valley, part of the North Staffordshire coalfield of the United Kingdom. We report the results of a survey oflocal estate agents, which suggests that, as measured by the impact upon local house prices, the monetary environmental costs could be sufficient to reduce substantially the economic viability of the proposal. Moreover, we conclude that opencast coal in the Trent Valley is almost certainly more costly to produce than alternative deep mined coal.