This week, almost a quarter of a million people raised their voices to demand reform of the broken federal program that’s giving companies a sweetheart deal to mine coal on our public lands. On the heels of hundreds of people packing public hearings across the U.S. this June, the Sierra Club delivered more than 131,000 comments from our members and supporters to the U.S. Department of the Interior, demanding reform -- and ultimately the end -- of its coal leasing program.
Together with several partner organizations, we delivered 243,859 total comments calling on the federal government to get out of the coal leasing business and instead focus on investing in the clean energy economy, stewarding our public lands, and supporting an economic transition.
As I’ve noted before, the federal coal leasing program run by the Department of Interior is broken, outdated, and ignores the threat of climate change in our communities. Did you know that 40 percent of all coal produced in the United States comes from our public lands? For decades coal companies have ripped 400 million tons of coal from our public lands every year, burning it in power plants, slowing clean energy development, worsening climate disruption, and polluting our communities - not to mention ripping off American taxpayers in the process.
In January, President Obama and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced a formal review of the federal coal leasing program, including an immediate stop to new and modified coal leasing, with some exceptions.
And as you always do, activists across the U.S. stepped up -- big time -- to make sure the Interior Department heard loud and clear that we not only support reforming the coal leasing program, but we’re also calling on Interior to plan for the end of the program, and to support a just economic transition for communities affected by those changes.
We heard from Americans from all walks of life -- parents, health officials, city leaders, ranchers, people of faith, and so many others who are concerned about clean air and clean water and the risks to our climate. They want the federal government to instead invest more in the clean energy economy and to support a just transition for coal-reliant communities, including economic diversification.
The last federal coal leasing reform happened under the Reagan administration, when we knew only a fraction of what we do now about the devastating harm coal causes to our climate, air, land, water, and our health. But there has never been a comprehensive review of how the entire coal leasing program affects the climate and environment -- until now.
On top of all the impacts to our land, air, and water, the federal coal leasing program is also hitting taxpayers in the pocketbook, by allowing companies to mine the coal for far below market value. The Interior Department’s coal leasing program has been a sweetheart deal for the mining companies for years, costing taxpayers $30 billion over the last thirty years, and effectively subsidizing mining in the Powder River Basin, a region which is the source of 13 percent of U.S. climate emissions.
The hundreds of thousands of people who submitted comments online or in person know that it makes no sense for the federal government to keep running a bargain basement coal business, at a time when we’re facing a climate crisis. Instead, we need the Interior Department to focus on stewardship of our public lands and waters and on supporting an economic transition for places with historic ties to coal. Not only would that save us billions of dollars, but it’s also essential to saving our climate and to keeping our air and water clean.
The people have spoken. Now, Interior Department -- will you listen?