Over 100 people gathered at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, TN, on Thursday, May 26, 2016 as part of the U.S.  Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) review of coal leasing policy on public lands. Fifty-five people spoke at the hearing with 50 advocating for clean, renewable energy. 

Background

Forty one percent of U.S. coal comes from land owned by taxpayers. It’s managed by several federal agencies with BLM handling leasing and production. Coal companies   pay fees to the federal government to mine the coal with 51% of the fees going to the federal government and 49% to the state where the mine is located.

In January, 2016, Sally Jewel, Secretary of the Department of Interior, announced a  “pause and review” of the coal leasing program due to concern that taxpayers were not getting fair market value for the coal, that the leasing process was unfair, and that coal has a significant impact on health and global climate change.

The coal leasing rules have not been changed since the Regan presidency. The pause affects only new leases, not those that are pending or existing. It will stay in effect until the review is completed in about three years. The review will include the first-ever comprehensive look at the climate impacts.

Telling BLM what should be included in the review is a key first step in the process.

 The Numbers

• There are 306 federal coal leases in 11 states covering over 480,000 acres.
• 85% of leased coal is from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (TVA plants, including Kingston, burn Powder River Basin coal. There is some leased coal in KY and AL)
• There is a 20-year supply of coal under lease now (7.75 billion recoverable tons)
• Total U.S. coal production declined 10% from 2014 to 2015 and will fall another 12% in 2016.
• U.S. coal exports declined 24% from 2014 to 2015 and will fall another 10% in 2016.
• Leased coal provides 14% of U.S. electricity.
• Leased coal is responsible for 13% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
• From 2006 -15 leased coal output was 4.3 billion tons that produced $9.55 billion in federal revenue.
• Royalties paid by coal companies (8% and12.5% for underground and surface mined coal respectively) have not changed in 30 years. Offshore oil and gas royalties are 18.5%.
• Coal mining directly employed 90,000 people in 2012, but fell to 74,000 in 2014.
• This is $3.6 billion in self-bonded reclamation obligations. (Coal companies must set aside funds to repair environmental damage done as a result of mining. They are allowed to “self-bond”, meaning they control those funds. Bankruptcy puts the funds in jeopardy and potentially shifts responsibility to the public. Three of the largest U.S. coal compaies have declared bankruptcy.)

 The Issues

 The Knoxville hearing was one of six around the country that constitute the “scoping” phase of the coal lease review. The purpose of this stage of the process is to identify issues and actions that will be included in a later Procedural Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that will be used to determine new coal leasing policies and rules.

The entire process will take about three years. An interim report on conclusions from the scoping process will be issued by the end of 2016.

The BLM identified issues to be addressed in the review and added others as a result of earlier public “listening sessions” held in the summer of 2015 in Washington DC, Gillette Wyoming, Billings Montana, Farmington New Mexico, and Denver Colorado.

Key reforms that are needed are:

Climate protections –

• Assess the impact that mining, burning and disposing of coal waste has on society.
• Incorporate those costs into the lease amounts coal companies pay.
• Disclose how federal coal leasing affects the amount of solar and wind generated energy that is available.
• Evaluate an alternative to coal leasing that would phase it out entirely.

Taxpayer protections –

• Increase royalty rates that have not changed in 30 years and are well below those for gas and oil leases on federal land.
• Include the external costs of using coal, like the impacts on health and the environment, into the royalty rates.

Reclamation and Bonding –

• Determine whether “self bonding” for reclamation of land is a workable system. Companies are responsible for reclaiming mined lands, but holding bonds themselves to fund reclamation puts those funds in jeopardy when companies go bankrupt. Alpha, Arch, and Peabody, three of largest coal companies in the U.S. have filed for bankruptcy. All hold unfunded self-bonding obligations.

Coal Exports –

• BLM must evaluate whether shipping our carbon emissions overseas is in the public’s best interest.

Public Comments

Speakers came not only from Knoxville and other Tennessee towns, but also from Kentucky, Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington DC and Montana.

Also, representatives for Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN) and Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) spoke.

Roe’s spokesperson said the program was working well, that the review was unnecessary and that it was giving a fair return to the taxpayer. Griffith’s spokesperson characterized the hearing as another part of “Obama’s war on coal” and said local power companies in Griffith’s district would produce from 30% to 50% of their power from coal by 2030.

Five speakers from the public opposed the review of the federal leasing program.

Sample comments:

• Chuck, Knox Co. President of the TN Mining Association – The moratorium will cause a tax loss to schools. A past moratorium did not produce any increase in health, renewables or tourism.

• Barry, a mining engineer – The effort to keep coal in the ground is just appeasement of Obama’s political base. Trump will put miners back to work.

• Dan – Too much focus on environmental issues and not enough on economic issues. Royalty rates should be lowered.

Fifty speakers applauded the “pause and review”. Sample comments:

• Wilson Co. TN Tax Assesor – Coal leases are sold for too little money. There’s no insurance for miners when coal companies go bankrupt.

• Cate, from Montana – Mining drains aquifers. Companies have a dismal record of land reclamation. They can’t pay for cleanup when they go bankrupt.

• Small business owner from Watertown TN – People, not coal companies, pay the social cost of carbon.

• Scott from Memphis – Keep my share of coal in the ground.

• Adam, from Statewide Organizing for Community empowerment (SOCM) – Low royalty rates for coal equals a subsidy for them. That hurts the economic growth of manufacturing for clean energy. The TVA Kingston plant spill waste was trucked to Uniontown AL where it’s causing health problems to low income residents.

• Louise, from E. TN Power and Light – Climate change is a moral issue. The coal industry shouldn’t hurt others for their gain.

• An avid hiker from Maryville – Parts of the Cumberland Trail have no drinkable water due to pollution from coal mines. Halt all coal leasing.

• Erin, from Blacksburg VA – Low lease payments and no accounting for external costs equates to a subsidy for coal companies.

• Bill, who took a day off work to attend the hearing – Strip mining pits in Scott Co. are still not reclaimed 25 years after they were dug.

• Joan, a nurse from Harlan Co. KY – There’s a coal-burning power plant across the river from a Burnside KY elementary school. Cancer rates are high in that area.

• Young girl from a coal mining area in TN who came with her grandmother – She lives in an area where mountains have been “blown apart” for mining and has asthma.

• Christian, a lawyer from Lexington KY – The public looses money due to low royalty rates.

• Lynn, from Oak Ridge (originally Bell Co. KY) – Mechanization took many coal jobs. Solar jobs are growing faster than the national average.

• Brian, from Crossville TN – No profit from leasing will match the cost of climate change.

• Jim, Director of KY Heartwood – Safety laws were flaunted in Bledsoe Co. KY The federal leasing process is “deeply biased”.

• Dick, a 5^th generation miner from Berea KY – Cyclical coal leases produce poor communities. We don’t need coal at the expense of people’s lives.

• Barbara, from Knoxville – We are not the enemies of miners.

• Paul, a UT professor – Reclamation of mined lands will cost taxpayers more than revenue from leasing.

• Nelson, the Riverkeeper of the Black Warrior River in AL – There are 100 mining permits in the Black Warrior Basin. AL is #1 state in aquatic biodiversity.

• Richard, whose grandfathers and father were miners – Coal is over. We owe miners justice and should find ways for them to make a living.

Written comments may be sent to the BLM until July 28, 2016.

Email: BLM_WO_Coal_Program_PEIS_Comments@blm.gov

Mail: Coal Programmatic EIS Scoping
          Bureau of Land Management
          20 M St. SE, Room 2134 LM
          Washington, D.C. 20003

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