Coal Leasing Moratorium Opens Door to a Cleaner Energy Future

A federal court ruling in Montana has halted coal leasing on federal lands, reinstating a moratorium because the environmental and health impacts of coal were insufficiently accounted for. Earthjustice asserts that this creates a critical opening for the Biden administration to move beyond its current support of lease applications and instead phase out coal extraction, increase royalty rates to reflect true costs, and support transitioning coal-mining communities.

• A Montana District Court ruling on August 12 reinstated a moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands, concluding that the impacts of such leasing are not sufficiently understood or accounted for in the current process.
• As of 2021, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed 299 federal coal leases covering roughly 458,600 acres.
• To achieve a global warming limit of 1.5°C, a 2021 study indicates that 90% of the world's coal reserves must stay in the ground by 2050.
• The Biden administration is urged to take specific actions following the moratorium, including phasing out existing coal leases, increasing coal lease royalty rates to account for public and environmental costs, and coordinating with Congress and state agencies to mitigate unemployment in coal-mining communities.

APA

Earthjustice (2022). Coal Leasing Moratorium Opens Door to a Cleaner Energy Future. https://earthjustice.org/brief/2022/coal-leasing-moratorium-opens-door-to-a-cleaner-energy-future

Chicago

Earthjustice. Coal Leasing Moratorium Opens Door to a Cleaner Energy Future. 2022. https://earthjustice.org/brief/2022/coal-leasing-moratorium-opens-door-to-a-cleaner-energy-future.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Coal Leasing Moratorium Opens Door to a Cleaner Energy Future |date=23 August 2022 |url=https://earthjustice.org/brief/2022/coal-leasing-moratorium-opens-door-to-a-cleaner-energy-future |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2022coal, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Coal Leasing Moratorium Opens Door to a Cleaner Energy Future}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://earthjustice.org/brief/2022/coal-leasing-moratorium-opens-door-to-a-cleaner-energy-future}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }