US to Close Loophole That Helps Coal Export Profits

The US government is planning to tighten up rules surrounding coal exports since the discovery of a loophole that has allowed companies to boost profits, according to Reuters.

As quoted in the publication:

American taxpayers by law are due a 12.5 percent royalty on the sales of millions of tons of coal pulled each year from federal land that mining companies lease.

But a Reuters investigation found in 2012 that coal companies were using affiliated brokers to settle royalty payments on exports to Asia at much lower domestic prices.

Click here to read the full Reuters article.