Federal coal leasing is a broken program stuck in the 20th century. For over a generation, a U.S. government program has sold publicly owned coal to private companies at fire-sale prices, losing out on billions of dollars of public funds and leaving a sprawling mess in the coalfields.
For years, WORC members and leaders have worked hard to get the Department of the Interior to take a comprehensive look at its federal coal leasing program and study ways to improve it. Last summer, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Interior officials saw massive public turnout at five “listening sessions” where hundreds of westerners called for an end to business-as-usual for the broken coal leasing program.
Now, Interior has embarked on a three-year top-to-bottom review that will consider options to reform the program. Through May and June, Interior and the holding six public hearings to shape that review.
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The current federal coal leasing program was designed in the aftermath of the 1970’s energy crisis in order to provide plentiful domestic electricity.
Today, our energy challenges — and our sources of domestic power — are very different. As energy from renewable sources becomes cheaper than coal-fired electricity in the US and across the world, now is the time to re-evaluate how and when we lease our public coal. As bankruptcies mount in the coal sector, the BLM should stop subsidizing coal companies with a flood of cheap, taxpayer-owned coal.
“Given what we know about coal’s costs, and given huge recent changes in the industry’s structure, it’s critical that the nation pauses the federal coal program and takes fresh stock in light of the changes we have seen since President Reagan last reviewed the program 30 years ago.” ~Bob LeResche, former WORC Chair
Federal Coal Leasing Impacts Close to Home
Speaking to press last week, Montana rancher Steve Charter recounted his experiences with federal coal leasing:
“For the past 40 years I have had a ring side seat to personally witness the broken federal coal program that has allowed coal companies to take advantage of the loopholes and giveaways, and avoid accountability at the expense to taxpayers, our land, air, water and wildlife.
“The high quality coal now being mined in my area was once all owned by the people of the United States. Half of this great coal reserve was given to a railroad company in the 1880s. In the 1990s, millions more tons of coal were traded to the successor of the railroad company for a fishing access site amounting to less than one cent per ton. Finally, in 2013 the rest of the coal was leased for a mere 30 cents per ton in an action with only one bidder. Half of all this lost revenue would be given to the states, if it hadn’t been all given away.
“Furthermore, this deeply flawed system has not ensured that the mined land is reclaimed or the water aquifers restored. Now we face the prospect of the land not being reclaimed or that the taxpayer will be forced to pick up the tab, thanks to the now bankrupt companies that were allowed to self bond. Coal companies have gotten huge profits while the public has gotten the shaft.”
The federal coal leasing program should be based on promoting the public interest, not the special interests of coal companies. To do this, BLM must take back control of the leasing process by deciding when and where to offer leases that are in the nation’s interests, rather than allowing coal companies to control the process.
Read more coal stories here.
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Current State of Coal Industry and Mineral Tax Collection Creates a Tax Time-bomb
Unanimous Vote by Wyoming Environmental Quality Council Clears the Way for Strong Self-Bonding Rules