Published: January 19, 2016 |

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Days following the announcement of Arch Coal’s bankruptcy filing, the Obama administration announced Friday a moratorium on all federal coal leasing while the U.S. Department of Interior conducts a full review of the program.

The action isn’t expected to have an immediate impact on mining in Wyoming. However, the federal review — which will include an assessment of the land, water, air and climate impact of mining and burning the coal — is seen as a powerful tailwind to the industry’s downward trajectory.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell during a press call Friday acknowledged that the coal industry struggles under financial and market pressures, and that the Interior’s actions may add to the economic pain felt in coal-reliant communities. However, it is in the nation’s interest to ensure a fair financial return on publicly owned coal and to weigh exploitation of the resource with the human health and economic impacts of mining and burning the coal.

“We need to take into account right now the science of carbon’s impact to the environment,” Jewell told reporters.

FEDERAL ACTIONS

The Interior will conduct a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement — a years-long process that calls for public review and participation under the National Environmental Policy Act. The agency has committed to completing the review in three years. The review will “take a careful look at issues such as how, when, and where to lease; how to account for the environmental and public health impacts of federal coal production; and how to ensure American taxpayers are earning a fair return for the use of their public resources,” according to an Interior statement.

The U.S. Geological Survey will build a database for the review, accounting for the nation’s industrial carbon emissions from coal, oil and natural gas, as well as current and potential carbon sequestration.

COAL LEASE MORATORIUM

The moratorium does not affect current mining activities, nor does it invalidate existing federal coal leases. Jewell estimated existing approved leases provide about 20 years worth of coal. Much of that supply is in Wyoming, the state that provides about 40 percent of the nation’s coal.

The moratorium does halt all federal coal leasing actions nationwide, except for lease applications already under review. Several of those federal coal lease applications that will be allowed to continue are in Wyoming, according to Interior officials. The agency said it will provide more detail on the status of individual lease applications.

Demand for new federal coal leases in Wyoming — a major source of revenue dedicated to schools — had already almost entirely disappeared during the past four years as many coal companies struggle financially. Jewell said that many federal coal lease applications had already been delayed at the request of coal companies.

REACTIONS

Industry officials in the state see the administration’s move as driven more by politics than science.

“This is yet another salvo in the president’s efforts to kill the coal industry,” Wyoming Mining Association executive director Jonathan Downing said in a statement. “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.”

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) has fought the Obama administration on several fronts of federal regulation of mining and coal burning throughout his first and second terms. He described the administration’s action on Friday as “drastic and uncalled for.”

“This administration’s attempts to suppress the use of coal have largely been through Environmental Protection Agency regulations,” Mead said in a statement Friday. “The Regional Haze rule, the mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) rule, the Clean Power Plan — these are some but not all the regulations we have fought.

“Today’s move — imposing a moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands — goes beyond EPA regulation. It could not be more plain — in fact, it is starkly apparent — this administration is no friend to coal when it flatly says there will be no new coal leases until some indefinite point in time.”

Source: (January 15, 2016) WyoFile

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