U of Alabama's Coal mineral rights

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Supposedly if they were mined our endowment would be much larger than it is now...

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I'm not sure if we should sell the rights because of how it is a reparation for the campus being destroyed.

I don't want to accept the 'payment' in honor of those that died to defend campus. Their lives and those bricks were worth more than a few dollars or some coal land.

[edit: If UA needs money that bad I would seriously try to rally donations, UA doesn't need to sell that land or those rights]

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The land is in Walker County.

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I'm aware.

And the water boards don't want it mined if I recall correctly.

We haven't sold the rock have we? Or rebuilt on the mound? Why should we sell those lands appropriated after our campus was destroyed?

I'm sure it will eventually be liquidated off of the UA portfolio; it doesn't change my opinion.

I don't know about the government limiting their ability to be mined. Some of them are in environmentally sensitive areas where the most efficient method of extraction - strip mining - would also pose the potential for significant impact on the Black Warrior river. Other coal beds are suitable for shaft mining, but with the current economic climate, opening new shaft mines may not be very profitable. Most Alabama coal is high sulfur, which means it creates more sulfur dioxide and requires more "scrubbing" of the stacks, which adds money to the fuel costs and makes it less competitive. The Chinese, though, don't care about that, but there's so much easy to get at coal in the US that it'll probably be a while before the market changes too much.

The coal holding were given to the university in 1880 as reparations for the US Army destroying the campus in April 1865. The deal was negotiated through the senate by John Tyley Morgan, Alabama "Ambassador to the United States," father of legal segregation and the "Isthmian Canal" (though he wanted to build it in Nicaragua). For nearly a century after that, the central steam plant used UA coal to generate steam to heat campus buildings (they switched to natural gas several years ago and tore down the giant chimney that was used in coal-fired boilers). Money from coal built Manly and Clark Halls and there are still numerous faculty endowments on campus that are supported by coal royalties.

You can view all UA land holdings here.

Awesome thanks.

I was talking with an Aggie and an Auburn fan recently regarding school endowments.

Texas ATM has the PUF funds in use. I told him that Alabama has something similar(coal) but not necessarily in use, and not valued on the balance sheet. Auburn fan naturally shot me down and said Auburn has the higher endowment.

I'm not sure. I just know it's large.

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The only real downside is that the land isn't generating property taxes for the local area like it would if it were not owned by a government entity.

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Walker County has a lot of problems I'd put before that. Not meant at all condescendingly, just my observation having been there to visit relatives a few times a year.

sucks to be auburn, they poor.

Wouldn't AU's number include AUM as well? Many of the schools on that list are listed as systems or foundations.

Doesn't Auburn have big research facilities in Mobile/Dauphin Island?