Remediation of Abandoned Mine Lands

Friday, October 3, 2008 : 1:20 p.m.

Using Ecosystem Services Markets to Pay for Abandoned Mine Lands Remediation

Edward G. Sanders, Ph.D., Eco Asset Markets and Elling J. Myklebust, PE, Colorado State Parks

The technical challenges involved in abandoned mine lands remediation are compounded by the underlying reality that the land owners have little or no economic incentive to clean them up.  One promising part of the solution is the emergence of ecosystem services markets that can help pay for abandoned mine lands clean-up.

 

The largest and best known ecosystem service market is for carbon sequestration, which can pay landowners for reforestation.  Other emerging ecosystem markets are for wetlands mitigation and biodiversity credits.  Colorado has also been a leader in promoting trades between point sources of water pollution and non-point sources that can reduce pollutant emissions less expensively.  Similar transactions are possible between sources of sediment loading to streams and for paying landowners for groundwater protection and recharge.

 

The presentation summarizes the state of development of the various ecosystem markets and their applicability to abandoned mine clean-up.  It describes the current use of carbon credits in supplementing income from the sale of timber from reclaimed coal mine lands in Appalachia and evaluates their potential applicability to hard-rock mine sites in the West.  Emphasis is given to opportunities to “bundle” carbon credits with payments for other ecosystem services in order to generate sufficient income to pay for remediation of abandoned mine lands. 

 

The presentation peers into the future to examine potential environmental and economic impacts from acid mine drainage and global warming on watersheds, ecosystems, aquatic species and recreation.  It then reviews some of the decision support tools that are being developed to reduce the transaction costs that land owners face in attempting to access various ecosystem services markets.  The presentation concludes with a case study application of ecosystem services valuation models to abandoned mines lands in Colorado and illustrates how ecosystem services markets might help pay for remediation of these sites.

 

 

Edward G. Sanders, Ph.D., Eco Asset Markets Edward G. Sanders is a founding partner in EcoAsset Markets, Inc., a company that is developing decision support tools to improve the functioning of various ecosystem services markets. The company is managing pilot projects to create markets for habitat preservation, water quality and other ecosystem services. He is a former Associate Director of the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Elling J. Myklebust, PE, Colorado State Parks Elling Myklebust, P.E., is the Division Energy Coordinator and former Chief Financial Officer for Colorado State Parks, responsible for planning, development and implementation of the division’s sustainability programs. His prior experience includes executive leadership, planning and management in energy engineering, environmental and management consulting. He has a Masters degree in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver, a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado. He serves on the Colorado Governor’s Greening of State Government Coordinating Council and the Governor’s Transportation Efficiency Audit Working Group.


Remediation of Abandoned Mine Lands