News

The US Interior Department announced January 15 that it is going to “review” the Bureau of Land Management’s leasing program of federal lands upon which an estimated 41% of all US coal is currently produced, and is putting a hold on all new lease applications while the three-year review is underway.

The announcement raised immediate suspicions in some quarters that the department was angling at more than a mere review of leasing procedures, a possible royalty fee hike and a benign moratorium on future leases. At the very least, the announcement was seen as a shot across the bow of coal production in the US.

The Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, said the department wants to “identify and evaluate” potential reforms to the federal coal program “in order to ensure that it is properly structured to provide a fair return to taxpayers and reflects its impacts on the environment.”

Jewell also called the review “another step” along the path that President Barack Obama announced in his recent State of the Union address to improve the way the US manages its fossil fuel resources “and move the country towards a clean energy economy.”

Jonathan Downing, the executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, was emphatic in his response. “This is yet another salvo in the president’s efforts to kill the coal industry. He and his allies in the extreme environmental movement know full well that this measure will make federal coal uneconomical to mine, thereby locking up America’s most abundant and reliable source of electricity generation.”

Downing added that coal remains a main source of baseload power in the US, one that renewable generation such as wind and solar is “unable to provide regardless of the billions in federal subsidies currently being funneled their way.”

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