A number of environmental justice groups brought a new lawsuit against the Trump administration Wednesday over the decision to reopen thousands of acres of public lands to the coal industry in a move climate advocates argue benefits dirty energy executives at the expense of people and the planet.
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The Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s opening up of federal coal leasing comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order that is set to roll back protections on public health, climate and the environment.
Federal coal leasing was halted last year under the Obama administration so that it could be reformed to protect the climate. The first review of that process only concluded in January, when the Interior Department found that coal mining fouls the air, pollutes streams and destroys wildlife habitat on public land. In addition, more than one-tenth of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from federal coal.
“The Trump administration has basically announced a fire sale to revive the coal industry,” Art Hayes, a southeastern Montana rancher who lives near Decker and Spring Creek mines — which both have pending lease applications that will be lifted with the new order — said in a statement Wednesday. “But in the process, they are leaving us ranchers that rely on clean water and a healthy climate in the dust. Putting business before people is just wrong.”
The lawsuit is being filed by Earthjustice and other groups such as Citizens for Clean Energy, Montana Environmental Information Center, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians and Defenders of Wildlife. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe is also suing.
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“No one voted to pollute our public lands, air or drinking water in the last election, yet the Trump administration is doing the bidding of powerful polluters as nearly its first order of business,” Earthjustice Attorney Jenny Harbine, who is leading the effort, said in a statement. “Our legal system remains an important backstop against the abuses of power we’ve witnessed over the course of the past two months. That’s why we’re going to court to defend our public lands, clean air and water, and a healthy climate for all.”
“By moving to re-open coal leasing on public lands at bargain basement prices, the Trump administration is giving a straight-up handout to its cronies in the coal industry,” added Richard Liebert, chairman of Montana-based Citizens for Clean Energy. “Eliminating the coal leasing pause will open the floodgates to more contracts that line the pockets of campaign contributors in the coal industry while ripping off the taxpayers who own the coal.”
The Interior Department had estimated that then-current federal leases already produced enough coal to supply the country’s needs for at least two decades.