The Biden Administration Must Act on Coal Leasing on Public Lands

A statement by Earthjustice criticizing the Biden administration for failing to reinstate an Obama-era moratorium on coal leasing on public lands and for defending Trump-era policies that favor the coal industry.

• As of 2021, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered 299 federal coal leases covering approximately 458,600 acres. Over 40% of the coal produced in the United States is sourced from public lands.
• A federal court re-imposed a coal-leasing moratorium after ruling that the decision to end the previous moratorium failed to legally account for climate and other harmful impacts. The moratorium remains until a comprehensive analysis of federal coal leasing is finished.
• Despite Secretarial Order 3398 issued by Interior Secretary Debra Haaland on April 16, 2021, which directed the BLM to review and potentially reverse the Trump-era policy that rescinded the coal-leasing moratorium by June 15, 2021, Earthjustice asserts that no such review has occurred.
• The Biden administration's BLM has defended two Trump-era resource management plans that did not comply with a court order to consider alternatives for limiting coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the U.S., or to account for public health impacts from burning publicly-owned coal.
• The administration continues to process new coal lease applications despite the climate crisis and a 14% increase in U.S. coal consumption in 2021.

APA

Wheeler, P. (2022). The Biden Administration Must Act on Coal Leasing on Public Lands. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/experts/jenny-harbine/the-biden-administration-must-act-on-coal-leasing-on-public-lands

Chicago

Wheeler, Perry. The Biden Administration Must Act on Coal Leasing on Public Lands. Earthjustice, 2022. https://earthjustice.org/experts/jenny-harbine/the-biden-administration-must-act-on-coal-leasing-on-public-lands.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Wheeler |first1=Perry |title=The Biden Administration Must Act on Coal Leasing on Public Lands |publisher=Earthjustice |date=22 September 2022 |url=https://earthjustice.org/experts/jenny-harbine/the-biden-administration-must-act-on-coal-leasing-on-public-lands |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{wheeler2022biden, author = {Wheeler, Perry}, title = {{The Biden Administration Must Act on Coal Leasing on Public Lands}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://earthjustice.org/experts/jenny-harbine/the-biden-administration-must-act-on-coal-leasing-on-public-lands}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }