Two hundred years of coal mining in Ohio have degraded land and water resources, imposing social costs
on its citizens. An interdisciplinary approach employing hydrology, geographic information systems, and
a recreation visitation function model, is used to estimate the damages from upstream coal mining to
lakes in Ohio. The estimated recreational damages to !ve of the coal-mining-impacted lakes, using
dissolved sulfate as coal-mining-impact indicator, amount to $21 Million per year. Post-reclamation
recreational bene!ts from reducing sulfate concentrations by 6.5% and 15% in the !ve impacted lakes
were estimated to range from $1.89 to $4.92 Million per year, with a net present value ranging from
$14.56 Million to $37.79 Million. A bene!t costs analysis (BCA) of recreational bene!ts and coal mine
reclamation costs provides some evidence for potential Pareto improvement by investing limited
resources in reclamation projects.
