Protect public lands and our climate from Big Coal’s bulldozers

Public lands
Photo: Ted Zukoski, Earth Justice

For decades, the federal government has been leasing taxpayer-owned public land to fossil fuel companies at bargain-basement rates. In return, we got nothing more than greenhouse gases that harmed our climate, toxic pollution that made our communities sick, and royalty rates that essentially subsidized fossil fuels at our expense. Thanks to activists like you who submitted comments, showed up at hearings, marched at climate rallies, and called for action, that’s finally changing. President Obama and Secretary Jewell just announced a suspension of new coal mining on federal land and a review of the entire federal coal program’s impact on the environment and climate.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate towards a clean energy future and away from dirty fuels. An astonishing 40 percent of all coal produced in the United States comes from our public land. Yet this in the first time in history that the federal coal program’s impact on our climate will be studied.

Thank President Obama and Secretary Jewell for their leadership in addressing our broken federal coal program and tell them that our climate and public land deserve strong protection from Big Coal’s pollution and its bulldozers.

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Thank you for your taking action to suspend new federal coal mining and conduct a review of the program’s impact on our climate and environment. Your leadership in reforming a broken, outdated federal program that currently fails to consider the threat of climate change on our communities is historic and a critical step to ensuring America meets its climate goals and continues to be an international leader on climate and clean energy following the landmark agreement in Paris. Coal from our public lands is blocking and slowing clean energy, not accelerating it, and a review of the coal leasing program needs to take that into account.

An astonishing 40 percent of all coal produced in the United States comes from our public land and this marks the first time the U.S. will examine the collective impacts of all coal mined on public land. A review of the federal public lands coal leasing program should include a full accounting for the costs of the climate-disrupting pollution caused by coal mining, transportation, and burning -- and this decision provides an important opportunity to do just that. We must also ensure a just transition to clean energy just as the president’s Power Plus Plan did in Appalachia; the cost of federal coal should include a fee to support economic transition for coal communities.

Thank you for ensuring our climate and public land have the strong protections they deserve and continuing to lead on climate.

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