Company: RNGE
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-001343
Chunk: 59

Company: RANGE IMPACT, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 59
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 parts of Alabama and Georgia). According to the EIA, there were approximately three times as many coal
mines in the United States in 2008 (compared to 2020) with approximately 89% located in Appalachia. The precipitous decline in the number
of operating coal mines since 2008 is due to various supply, demand and regulatory factors, including a reduction in demand for coal
as a source of electricity due to the increased use of natural gas and renewable energy, an increase in coal production costs due to
inflation and the dearth of cost-effective locations remaining for mining, and a more stringent and costly regulatory environment, all
of which have resulted in an increasingly difficult market for coal producers.

In
2000, coal was responsible for 1,966 billion kWh of electricity generation, representing 52% of the total electricity generation in the
United States. In 2022, coal was responsible for only 828 billion kWh of electricity generation, representing 20% of the total electricity
generation in the United States, a decline of approximately 58%. According to the EIA, 23% of the 200,568 megawatts of coal-fired capacity
currently operating in the United States is scheduled to retire by the end of 2029 due to the high cost of operations, competition from
natural gas and renewable energy resources, and sustainable initiatives of energy producers.

However,
the reclamation of closed and inactive mine sites has not kept pace with the increase in the number of closed and idled mine sites, thus
creating a substantial backlog of reclamation work that needs to be completed on former mine sites. According to the U.S. Office of Surfacing
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (“OSMRE”), there are approximately 50,000 high-priority abandoned mine land locations
in the United States resulting from legacy coal mining operations that failed to adequately reclaim the land and waterways back to their
natural state as required by federal regulations. Additionally, there are tens of thousands of active mine sites in the United States
that require contemporaneous reclamation of land and waterways during the active mining process, and an estimated equally large number
of idled mine locations that also require significant land reclamation and water restoration.

Under
the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (“SMRCA”), OSMRE was established for two basic purposes: (i) to ensure
coal mines in the United States operate in a manner that protects citizens and the environment during