WildEarth Guardians

Wednesday, April 21, 2010
WildEarth Guardians Files Suit Over Powder River Basin Coal Mining

Secretary of Interior Challenged to Reform Sham Coal Leasing Program in Nation's Largest Coal Producing Region
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x1303

Denver-WildEarth Guardians today filed suit against the U.S. Interior Secretary and the Bureau of Land Management challenging a sham federal coal leasing program in the Powder River Basin that has diminished competition and undermined efforts to address global warming.

“If we have any chance of confronting global warming in the U.S., we need to reform the coal leasing program in the Powder River Basin,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “This remote region is responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than any other single activity in the nation-for the sake of our communities, our economy, and our environment, we need to change course.”

On November 23, 2009, WildEarth Guardian petitioned Interior Secretary Salazar to “recertify” the Powder River Basin as a coal production region. This petition is available online. The petition came on the heels of a report released by WildEarth Guardians, which found coal mining in the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana is the largest contributor to global warming in the United States, a problem made worse by a 1990 decision to “decertify” the Powder River Basin as a coal production region. This report is available online.

Neither the Secretary nor the Bureau of Land Management have responded to this petition, prompting WildEarth Guardians’ lawsuit.

In 1990, the Bureau of Land Management “decertified” the Powder River Basin as a “coal production region,” in essence declaring the region no longer produced coal. This sham designation has allowed the Bureau to avoid following standard leasing procedures, which has allowed coal companies, rather than the federal government, to design leases to preclude competition. In its report, WildEarth Guardians found that in the last 20 years, only three lease sales out of 21 have had more than one bidder.

Most significantly, the “decertification” has prevented the Bureau of Land Management from addressing the global warming impacts of coal mining. Not only has it thwarted the ability of the agency to prepare a regional analysis of the global warming impacts, the “decertification” has blocked the agency from limiting coal leasing or otherwise adopting measures to address global warming.

“The government is literally shortchanging the public at the expense of our climate,” said Nichols. “This is borderline corruption and sadly, it’s our environment and our communities that stand to suffer most.”

Coal from the Powder River Basin is burned in coal-fired power plants, which are already the largest source of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the U.S., making the Powder River Basin the largest contributor to global warming in the nation. The Powder River Basin produces 42% of the all coal burned in the U.S., more than any other region in the country. Nearly 500,000,000 tons are strip mined annually, leading to the release of 800,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide-more than 13% of the nation’s total.

WildEarth Guardians’ lawsuit comes as the Bureau of Land Management is pushing to offer 12 new coal leases in the Powder River Basin that would collectively mine up to 5.8 billion tons of coal-as much coal as has been mined from the region in the last 20 years. Together, these proposals threaten to lead to the release of more than 9.63 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-more than the amount released every year by 1.7 billion passenger vehicles annually.

“With 12 massive new coal leasing proposals slated to be approved, we cannot afford to continue business as usual in the Powder River Basin,” said Nichols. “We need Secretary Salazar to standup for sensible solutions to global warming and live up to his own commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the Department of Interior.”

Under federal law and Interior Department regulations, the Secretary is required to respond to a citizen petition promptly. WildEarth Guardians’ lawsuit today challenges the failure of the Interior Secretary and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to respond promptly to the group’s November 2009 petition. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit public interest organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers of the American West.

View the complaint