The coal program was reviewed for the first time in three decades this last week and the government has ordered to put a pause on issuing coal leases on the federal land. This order is part of some of the other executive actions that have been taken with the sole purpose to fight climatic disorders.
No more coal leases on federal land:
This halt is something that was long coming. The coal leases were not stopped already because the previous governments didn’t see it to review the coal mining program and Obama finally decided that this needed looking in to. The halt could last around 3 years, as indicated by Sally Jewell, who is the Interior Secretary of the US. The officials are during this tenure going to find out how they can protect the stake of the tax paying community in coal sales that occur from public lands and how the burning of fuels actually worsens the climatic change.
This step is one taken in the right direction when you consider the fact that the federal land encompasses around 40 percent of the whole coal production of the country. The majority of the leases are on public lands in the Western states primarily Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.
This review might be something very good in the longer run in the bid to fight climate change but sadly for the industry it has come at a time where they could have done well without it. Around 50 coal companies since 2012 have gone bankrupt after facing competition from natural gas and the regulations for clean air that have eventually led to the increased prices of fossil fuel burning.
All in all, we don’t believe that the government is going to cut back on its decision of making it last 3 years and it is a very calculated decision.
