Obama Administration Caters to Big Coal by Refusing to Call Largest Coal Region a Coal Region

[The Straight Story]

Obama Administration Caters to Big Coal by Refusing to Call Largest Coal Region a Coal Region

Tired of the cheap deal enjoyed by mining companies, environmentalists are suing the Department of the Interior over the federal designation of the nation’s largest coal-producing region.

WildEarth Guardians claims that the Powder River Basin, a 24,000 square mile area encompassing parts of Wyoming and Montana, has produced 42% of the nation’s coal, but has not yielded an acceptable amount of revenue to the U.S. Treasury. That’s because the Bureau of Land Management, since the George H. W. Bush administration, has not classified Powder River as a “coal production region.” This failure has resulted in non-competitive leasing for coal mining operations.

The area was designated a coal production region in 1979, but the Bush administration changed the certification in 1990. Since that time, only three of 24 leases have had competitive bidding. President Barack Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has refused to change the designation.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Obama_Administration_Caters_to_Big_Coal_by_Refusing_to_Call_Largest_Coal_Region_a_Coal_Region_100710

[katandmoon]

1. When it comes to Salazar (and therefore Obama), private industry profits beat environment every time