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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 24th Aug 2026, 01:53:40am WEST

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Daily Overview

Session

Egg-Timer: Environmental Valuation and Sustainability
Location: D-111
Session Chair: Max Harleman, Villanova University

Presentation 6

Coal Communities With Restored Streams Also Sustain Population

Shawn McCoy¹, Jeremy G. Weber², Max Harleman³, Katie Jo Black⁴

1: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Lied Center for Real Estate, United States of America; 2: University of Pittsburgh, School of Public and International Affairs, United States of America; 3: Villanova University, Department of Public Administration, United States of America; 4: Kenyon College, Department of Economics, United States of America

Can turning an environmental hazard into an amenity help sustain communities facing industrial and population decline? We study Pennsylvania coal communities over three decades, estimating how mine-impaired waterways—and their restoration—affect long-run population change during a period of broad declines in mining and manufacturing. We find that communities with mine-impaired waterways and no restoration experienced 4 percentage points less population growth than similar nearby communities, resulting in depopulation for many. Even partial restoration more than offset this effect, with growth driven by college-educated individuals and those of college or retirement age. In contrast, mine water treatment systems by themselves have no effect on population growth apart from restoration status. The effect of restoration is similar in magnitude to that of a public bike trail and suggests that environmental restoration can act as place-based economic development policy, helping declining regions retain and attract residents.