US sets moratorium on new federal coal leases

Fresh shot to the heart of the US coal industry. (Image from archives)

US President Barack Obama announced Friday his administration has placed a moratorium on new leases for coal mined from federal lands as part of a sweeping review on the government’s management of vast amounts of taxpayer-owned coal throughout the West.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell unveiled the temporary halt, saying it was time for a re-examination of the decades-old coal-leasing program, from health and environmental impacts to whether US citizens are getting a fair return for the hundreds of millions of tons of government-owned coal that is mined and sold each year.

“We haven’t undertaken a comprehensive review of the program in more than 30 years,” Jewell said, “and we have an obligation to current and future generations to ensure the federal coal program delivers a fair return to American taxpayers and takes into account its impacts on climate change.”

The announcement comes only three days after President Obama hinted of coming reforms to federal energy policy in his State of the Union address.

More to come…

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