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Obama Administration Urged to Reject Sweetheart Deal With Coal Industry

Date
January 4, 2017
Contact
Jeremy Nichols, (303) 437-7663, jnichols@wildearthguardians.org
In This Release
Climate + Energy  
#KeepItInTheGround
Salt Lake City, UT—WildEarth Guardians today called on the Obama Administration to defend Americans and reject a plan to sell publicly owned coal for 41¢ per ton to a Utah coal company.

At an auction held today in Salt Lake City, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management received a single bid for the Greens Hollow lease, a tract of publicly owned coal in central Utah that contains nearly 60 million tons of coal. The lease would expand the SUFCO mine, which underlies the Manti-La Saland Fishlake National Forests.

When burned, this coal will produce more than 120 million metric tons of carbon pollution, fueling climate change and filling the skies with more air pollution. Estimates indicate this amount of carbon emissions could cost society upwards of $21 billion.

“This couldn’t be more corrupt, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is literally giving away publicly owned coal to private companies,” said Jeremy Nichols with WildEarth Guardians. “What’s worse is they’re giving away coal at the expense of our climate, our clean air, and our clean energy future.”

The bid, from Bowie Resource’s subsidiary, Canyon Fuels Company, the largest coal producer in Utah, amounted to $22.85 million, or around 41 cents per ton.

To put this into context, coal from Utah has been selling for $40.90 per ton. In essence, while Bowie has offered $22.85 million for the Greens Hollow lease, it stands to reap more than $220 million in return, a nearly 10,000% profit margin.

In a press release issued today, the Bureau of Land Management indicated it is considering accepting the bid.

“This isn’t about economic development, this is about the Bureau of Land Management doing the bidding of coal industry executives at the expense of Americans and their lands,” said Nichols. “While Bowie Resources gets rich, we’re stuck with a bill for more climate change, more air pollution, and more lost public lands.”

Today’s lease sale comes even as the Greens Hollow coal lease has been under intense fire by WildEarth Guardians and others. Last fall, an appeal derailed a previous attempt by the Bureau of Land Management to sell the lease. Although that appeal has yet to be resolved, the Greens Hollow coal lease was still put up for sale today.

The Bureau of Land Management’s management of publicly owned coal has been under intense scrutiny. In 2016, the Secretary of the Interior called for reforms to federal coal management, noting that Americans would be surprised to learn that coal leases are often sold for about a “dollar per ton.”