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<br />Transportation Alternatives
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<br />Coal and its products wi 11 be transported from the bas in in either natu-
<br />ral or converted form, Unconverted coal can be transported by slurry pipe-
<br />1 ines, unit trains, or trucks, Alternatively, the coal may be converted in
<br />the basin to electrical power, to a liquid product (oil or methanol), or to
<br />gaseous products (high and low Btu gases). Existing transport facilities
<br />within the Yampa River basin may have to be enlarged to handle the projected
<br />increase in coal mining, The existing pipeline, rail system, and power-
<br />transmission systems may not be adequate, Furthermore, new systems may have
<br />to be developed to transport new p:roducts. Any proposal developed for trans-
<br />porting coal needs to cons ider the mode 'of t,ransport, the water-resource re-
<br />quirements, the environmental impacts, and th~ total cost,
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<br />Coa,l not converted to either electricity or gas wi 11 be assumed to be
<br />shipped out of the basin by eHher slurry pipelines or unit trains, There-
<br />fore, a,wide range of water-use and environmental effects needs to be consid-
<br />ered. Electricity or gas produced from coal:wil1 be presumed to first fulfill
<br />any unused capacity in the existing transpo;l1tation system arid then require the
<br />,construction of additional transportationila'cil ities, Short-term environment-
<br />a 1 effects of the const ruct i on of such faci Ii ties wi 11 not be assessed.
<br />
<br />Areal Distribution
<br />
<br />Location's of coal mines, conversion and transportation facilities, as
<br />well as the related economic and demographic growth associ,atedwith such en-
<br />,ergy devel'opment, need to be specified to determIne where and what res iduals
<br />'will be pro'duced:, For this analysi's, It wlll be assumed that convers ion fa-
<br />cilities will be located princi:paHy a'texisting or planned mines, The over-
<br />all waste-assimil,ativecapacityof the 'environment at these locations also
<br />wi 11 be cons Idered. An examp'le 'of "a sensitivity analysisappl ied to the as-
<br />s'umed areal distributIon of conversion faci 1 ities might be :to add two more
<br />developmentproposals--oneemphasizing upper-basin development and the second
<br />emphasizing lower-hasin development--based upon a plan of a moderate level
<br />(say 50 percent) of in-basin conversion of coal.
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<br />ECONDM IC AND 'DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS
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<br />lmpacts of grQwth will be due to activities in primary economic sectors--
<br />coa'l 'mmH:tg, conve',rsion of coal to electricity and other energy forms, recre-
<br />at,ion "and ag rkult!:l,re-~p l,us ind,ucedg rowth in s,upportln-gs,econdary economic
<br />sec:tQf's.Bothe'conomicand demographic changes will result from coal mInIng
<br />and ,as:soclated a:CitA,wi t'i es, Envlronmenta 1 imp,actsof econom i cg:rowth produced
<br />byseconda,ry sect;o;r,s ,supporting coal mlning-'-constructiGlnactivities, urbanI-
<br />zatlcm, and the,:nesutting generation ofresiduals--may overshadow the impacts
<br />prodlilcedbythe, pil"ij'mary sectors. I'norder to estimate the env'i ronmen'tal im-
<br />pac:tsof such deve':liopment, projections of population and noncoal-based econom-
<br />icactiv'ities are :required, Itis proposed that an exist,ing input-output mod-
<br />el (poss ib I y ,the existing modelconst ructed at the Unll1ers i ty of Colorado by
<br />Udi-s and others, 1973J be used tiO generateprojecHons of population and em-
<br />p:loyment for l,o'th,'p,rimaryand:s,econdaryeconomic sectors, Input-output models
<br />ares,t,at kc", lntihat they assume that techologl,cal changes over time will not
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