After two years of continuous behind-the-scenes work, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va), who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, joined by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), released S. 4753, the Energy...more
Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land - "But the court ruling does say that the 2017 Trump administration policy, enacted by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to overturn...more
In 2016, DOI Secretarial Order 3338 imposed a moratorium on new coal leases on federal land until BLM prepared a programmatic environmental impact statement intended to address, among other issues, the impact of coal leasing...more
The Utah coal industry has benefited from recent reforms in federal coal leasing, permitting and streamlining of environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). During the previous administration,...more
On June 19, 2018, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a challenge by environmental groups and held that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has no legal obligation to update its...more
On January 15, 2016, Interior Secretary Jewell halted federal coal leasing on public lands. Western coal companies are attempting to sort out the implications of the moratorium and exemptions set out in Secretarial Order...more
On January 15, Secretary Sally Jewell announced that the Department of the Interior will launch a comprehensive review to identify and evaluate potential reforms to the federal coal program. During the review, which is...more
Legal challenges to moratorium likely as US Department of Interior considers reforms. On Friday, January 15, 2016, US Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that the US will “pause” federal coal...more