BLM sued - no environmental review of coal leasing since 1979

Coal leases on public lands operated by the US Bureau of Land Management are responsible for 40% of US coal production and 14% of total US CO2 emissions, writes Mike Gaworecki - yet their environmental impacts have not been reviewed in 35 years. 

It has been 35 years since the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last performed an environmental review of its coal leasing program.

But now two environmental groups are suing the BLM to force a review of the program.
Given advances in scientific knowledge of the risks posed by mining and burning coal to human health and Earth's climate made since 1979, the groups argue that the review will
"compel the Bureau of Land Management to deliver on its legal obligation to promote environmentally responsible management of public lands on behalf of the citizens of the United States."

Friends of the Earth and the Western Organization of Resource Councils filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, naming Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and BLM Director Neil Kornze as lead defendants, along with the Department of the Interior and the BLM.
BLM coal producing 14% of US's CO₂ emissions

Citing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, the complaint states:

"Even though coal mined under the federal coal management program is one of the single greatest contributors to US greenhouse gas emissions, constituting approximately 14% of annual carbon dioxide emissions and 11% of annual greenhouse gas emissions, BLM has unlawfully failed to evaluate and consider these environmental effects."

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