August 15, 2022 |
The Obama-appointed judge who has been at the heart of the top energy battles in the West for years reinstated a moratorium on coal leasing repealed by the Trump administration. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said the move will hurt consumers.
On Friday, Judge Brian Morris of the District of Montana restored a 2016 suspension on all coal leasing on federal lands. Leasing of federal lands for coal mining accounted for about 40 percent of U.S. coal production in 2015, when President Obama banned it.
After the Trump administration scuttled the first moratorium, Morris sided with a coalition of tribal and environmental groups in 2019, ordering a new environmental analysis Calling the new NEPA inadequate, the groups sued again in 2020.
Governor Gordon said Friday’s decision is “bad for Wyoming.”
In a statement, the governor said “This decision is a step backwards that doesn’t protect the environment and ensures consumers will pay more for energy. Enacting a moratorium at a moment when coal is badly needed to ensure a secure and reliable energy supply is wrong-headed on many fronts.”
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee called the decision a slap in the face of to Wyoming families and energy workers. “The Democrats assault on American energy is relentless,” Sen. Barrasso said in a statement. “This will only reduce electric reliability and push prices higher for American families.”
After two years of decline, coal use sharply increased in 2021, and demand could potentially reach a record high this year, according to the International Energy Agency.
The judge’s decision requires the Interior Department to reevaluate the environmental impacts of mining coal on federal lands before it can issue new leases. Groups bringing the lawsuit, including the Center For Biological Diversity, publicly state that they want to bring all coal mining to an end.
Meanwhile, the National Mining association will appeal the ruling. Its president, Richard Nolan, said in a statement, “The reimposition of this moratorium couldn’t come at a worse time” as Americans deal with across-the-board inflation. Energy prices are driving much of the cost increases on goods and services.
