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Competition in the U.S. Energy Industry







available (and desirable) strip coal reserves in this area (federal coal lands aside) are pretty well tied up by the companies shown in Table C-10, plus the few others which are unaccounted for there. There are still large uncommitted federal coal lands potentially available for lease, but for the time being a moratorium exists on the leasing of most of these lands following an order of the Secretary of the Interior to delay further coal leasing, pending a review of the government's coal land leasing policy.

Another interesting implication of the Table C-10 data is the heavy concentration of ownership among firms which are not now coal producers. Many of these companies are major petroleum producers. The substitutability of oil, gas, and coal in several major markets raises interesting questions concerning the tightening of market power in the energy sector resulting from oil company control of many of these reserves. Aside from this issue, ownership of these reserves is comparatively concentrated. Excluding firms in the table which presumably control reserves for captive mining operations, only sixteen companies (plus the federal government) control the entire reserve total.

Footnotes
Footnote :

a As of January 1, 1965.

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a Excludes Alaska.

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a Bureau of Mines estimate.

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b N.P.C. estimate (read from graph).

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c 925 miles @ 4.5 mills/mile.

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d 150 miles @ 9.0 mills/mile.

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e 250 miles @ 9.0 mills/mile.

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a Provisional estimates based on incomplete data.

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a It is not known whether tonnages for two or more companies are jointly owned or represent individual ownerships grouped together. The 18000 million ton figure, however, presumably represents individual ownerships.

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* Coal-producing companies in 1972.

NOTES

Footnote :

1. Hereafter this study will use the term "coal" to refer to the bituminous coal industry. This study focuses on the production of bituminous and subbituminous coal and lignite (which collectively will be referred to as "coal"); it ignores anthracite coal which is currently a nominal factor in the coal industry and will continue to play an insignificant role.

Footnote :

2. Reed Moyer, Competition in the Midwestern Coal Industry, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964), pp. 91-3.

Footnote :

3. Application of El Paso Natural Gas Co. at Docket #CP 73-131 for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, November 7, 1972, Exhibit Z-2, Schedule 2.

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4. Wall Street Journal, March 24, 1973, p. 6. Subsequent to this announcement of the companies' plans, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council announced their intention to abrogate the coal leases which permit the mining of coal for the gasification projects.

Footnote :

5. U.S. Energy Outlook, National Petroleum Council, p. 163.

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6. Bituminous Coal Facts 1972, National Coal Association, p. 52.

7. Ibid., p. 84.

8. U.S. Energy Outlook: An Initial Appraisal, 1971-1985, Vol. 2, National Petroleum Council, November, 1971, p. 127.

Footnote :

9. Not included in these companies are the major petroleum firms which have acquired active coal operations and currently operate them as subsidiaries.

Footnote :

10. Wall Street Journal, March 12, 1973, p. 15.

11. United States vs. General Dynamics, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois; Eastern Division, #67C 1632, filed April 13, 1972.