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Mountain Holler

Two Great Studies Released Last Week

Dr. Hendryx of West Virginia University and Dr. Ahern of Washington State University released a study last week in the journal Public Health Reports.  In their study, "Mortality in Appalachian Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost," Hendryx and Ahern look at the cost that excess deaths due to mining have on Appalachian communities vs. the economic benefits the coal industry brings to the area. 

The study found that, after adjusting for age, there are between 3,975 to 10,932 excess annual deaths in coal mining counties in Appalachia depending on what year you look at and what group you compare Coal Mining Appalachia to.  For example, there are fewer excess deaths when coal mining Appalachia is compared to non-coal mining Appalachia than the rest of the country because non-coal mining Appalachia, while better off socio-economically than coal mining Appalachia is still below the national average.  When adjusting for other variables, like smoking, poverty, education, etc. the excess deaths goes down to 1,736 to 2,889 per year.

The report then went on to apply the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) to see how much these deaths cost Appalachia economically speaking.  There are different VSL estimates out there ranging from $3.8 million per life to $6.3 million per life, and Hendryx and Ahern ran a bunch of different test cases with different VSL estimates to determine how much the excess deaths cost Appalachia.  The researchers put there point estimate at $41.846 Billion per year.  The amount the coal industry gives to Appalachia is $8.088 Billion per year, 5 times less than the estimated cost incurred by the people.

If that all sounds too confusing, read the actual report or Ken Ward's much more well written take on it or the transcript of online chat with Dr. Hendryx.

The second study was done by the great Kentucky based Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED).  This study, "The Impact of Coal On the Kentucky State Budget," looked specifically at the amount of money that goes into the Kentucky State Revenue Fund vs how much the state of Kentucky gives to the coal industry in in the form of road work, education, regulatory agencies and outright subsidies and tax breaks.

It turns out that Kentucky loses $114,831,474 every year to the coal industry.  And that doesn't include health costs or anything like that, it is simply money in vs. money out from the state's piggy bank. 

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