The federal coal program must end or seriously reform

Friends of the Earth argues that the U.S. federal coal leasing program is non-competitive, financially outdated, and climate-destructive. The organization calls for a halt to lease sales until reforms are enacted, including closing royalty loopholes, incorporating the social cost of carbon into pricing, and establishing public interest criteria for leases, asserting that most fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground to avoid climate catastrophe.

• The federal coal lease sale process is described as non-competitive and lacking transparency, with only 10 percent of the 107 leased coal tracts on public lands receiving more than one bidder since 1990. The author claims that the failure to auction these leases at fair market value has resulted in a revenue loss of approximately $28.9 billion over the last 30 years.
• Current financial terms for coal leasing are criticized for being outdated and insufficient. Rental fees are $3.00 per acre, and royalty rates—12.5 percent for surface mining and 8 percent for underground mining—have not increased since 1920. Furthermore, a royalty loophole allowing companies to sell coal to subsidiaries at low prices before exporting it results in an effective royalty rate of 4.9 percent, which is below the legal minimum of 12.5 percent.
• The author argues that the federal coal program exacerbates climate disruption, noting that over 57 percent of fossil fuel emissions from federal areas come from public coal combustion. To avoid irreversible climate catastrophe, the text states that at least 80 percent of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground.
• The Department of the Interior is urged to halt coal lease sales until five specific reforms are implemented: closing royalty loopholes, raising royalty rates and fees to reflect social costs, establishing public interest criteria for lease approval, using the social cost of carbon (which could raise prices to $62 per ton) to evaluate climate impacts, and updating bonding requirements for mining activities.

APA

Fox, A. (2015). The federal coal program must end or seriously reform. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/blog/2015-07-the-federal-coal-program-must-end-or-seriously-refor/

Chicago

Fox, Audrey. The federal coal program must end or seriously reform. Friends of the Earth, 2015. https://foe.org/blog/2015-07-the-federal-coal-program-must-end-or-seriously-refor/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Fox |first1=Audrey |title=The federal coal program must end or seriously reform |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=29 July 2015 |url=https://foe.org/blog/2015-07-the-federal-coal-program-must-end-or-seriously-refor/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{fox2015federal, author = {Fox, Audrey}, title = {{The federal coal program must end or seriously reform}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2015}, month = jul, url = {https://foe.org/blog/2015-07-the-federal-coal-program-must-end-or-seriously-refor/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }