On July 8, 2015, Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell followed up on her earlier call for an “honest and open conversation” on the coal leasing program by announcing five listening sessions in late July, early August. In response, WORC helped lead an extraordinary coalition effort involving over two dozen local, state and national organizations that mobilized hundreds of pro-reform speakers at sessions in Washington, D.C., Billings, Mont., Sheridan, Wyo., Denver, Colo., and Farmington, N.M.
Residents of all walks of life, including farmers and ranchers and elected officials, Native Americans, faith leaders, and taxpayers groups called on the Department of Interior and the BLM to stop giving sweetheart deals to coal companies by closing loopholes in the valuation of coal for royalty assessment.
Other important issues raised by speakers included the lack of competition in coal lease sales; failing to evaluate the impacts of coal exports on markets, coal value and on communities in the region; internalizing the high cost of carbon emissions into the market value of public coal, ending exchanges of federal coal under privately owned surface since it could not legally be leased under federal law, and holding coal companies accountable for failing to complete reclamation and request bond release for massive acres of public land at surface mines across the West.
The sessions provided opportunities for members to address the highest ranking officials overseeing federal coal, including Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell at the Washington, DC, meeting and BLM Director Neil Kornze at the Farmington meeting. Assistant BLM Director Linda Lance attended Billings and Gillette listening sessions and Assistant Secretary Mike Connor was on the dais in Denver.
Here are some of the voices heard at the listening sessions:
“The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has offered coal for bid without analyzing either the costs or the potential market effects of moving federal coal into export markets. Moreover, in the Bull Mountains, BLM issued the right to mine two additional mineable seams, as part of the sale, that were not even valued. It is decisions like these that underscore the flaws in the current leasing program. Nothing the agency has instituted since investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Inspector General has substantially alleviated the problems that led to this giveaway. It is critical that this process be open, with complete transparency about its market analysis, and to propose a minimally acceptable bid for the coal.“
Montana rancher, and chair of Northern Plains Resource Council, Steve Charter in Washington, D.C.
“[T]he 1990 decertification of coal production regions—especially for the Powder River Basin—was a mistake. It effectively shut down competition among producers for leases, ended public disclosure of lease terms and cut the public out of coal decision-making. It gave virtual monopoly control to producers over coal tracts, setting the stage for decades of underpaid leases and royalties. As much as it can, Interior should reverse the 1990 decision, thereby restoring competition for leases, openly disclosing lease terms, inviting the public into decision-making before leases are issued and creating a foundation for proper payments to the public.”
Former Montana Director of Revenue Dan Bucks in Billings
“Every dollar under market royalty interior collects represents 50¢ less Wyoming receives for education and infrastructure, and 50¢ more some hard-working American taxpayer must cough up.The shibboleth that royalty is a “tax” is tired and has got to go…. The coal industry has traditionally gamed the royalty system through non-arm’s length transfers and questionable deductions to the extent that effective royalty payments are 5-6%, rather than the 12.5% required by the leases.”
WORC Chair Bob LeResche in Gillette.
“The secrecy that I have seen breeds distrust of the current process. Leases are advertised publicly, but after that the monetary dealing is all done in a black bag until the final result is announced. In the public’s eyes, “Abracadabra, we have a price.” But even after the papers are signed and the lessee, at any time in the future, thinks it’s hit hard times, the fee due under the lease can be reduced. Therefore the price of the public’s coal may not be determinable at any time.”
Ellen Pfister, rancher and Northern Plains Resource Council member in Billings.
“In North Dakota, we have seen vast acres of good farmland strip mined for coal and very little of that land has been returned to the local agricultural community for production. Many questions surround the ability of those lands to produce at historic levels. The coal mining industry in North Dakota is also allowed to “self-bond” the mined land. With less than 1 out of 5 acres passing final bond release, there remains a huge liability that should worry our officials, our taxpayers and the federal agencies that administer this program.”
Gene Wirtz, Dakota Resource Council member and farmer from central North Dakota in Billings.
“The West Slope has been subjected to several boom-bust cycles over the past 50 years… It is time to stop this type of economy. It is time to stop the boom-bust economy. I want a boom-bust plan to be part of all permits, to help our local communities.”
Eric Rechel, Professor at Mesa State University in Grand Junction and Western Colorado Congress member in Denver.
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