Trump-Era Coal Lease Program Hit With Setback as Obama-Era Freeze Gets Revived

Tom OzimekAugust 13, 2022

A federal court has reimposed an Obama-era freeze on coal leasing from federal lands that former President Donald Trump axed in a bid to unlock domestic energy production, though the judge left the door open to resuming the coal leases if a more extensive environmental review is done.

In a ruling on Aug. 12 (pdf), U.S. District Judge Brian Morris faulted the Trump-era review of the coal leasing program for limiting the environmental impact review to “just” three issues: greenhouse gas emissions, socioeconomic impacts, and water quality.

“The Court determines that such a limited analysis fails to consider ‘all direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts’ of re-starting the federal coal-leasing program,” Morris wrote in the ruling.

The judge said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tried to curtail the potential environmental impacts of coal leases in its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, calling the bureau’s decision “arbitrary and capricious.”

Morris also objected to BLM evaluating only four approved leases under the program, calling it “insufficient.”

In the ruling, the judge said that the coal leasing program would be put on hold “until the completion of sufficient NEPA review analyzing revocation of the moratorium.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to BLM for comment, with no response received by publication.

Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz told The Associated Press that officials are reviewing the ruling.

A coal truck leaves a coal mine near Cumberland, Ky., on Aug. 26, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) ‘End to the War on Coal’

In January 2016, in a decision known as the Jewell Order, the Department of the Interior put a temporary freeze on leasing federal land for the purpose of mining coal, in part over concerns about climate change.

“Given serious concerns raised about the federal coal program, we’re taking the prudent step to hit pause on approving