21 groups call for moratorium on Powder River coal in letter to new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell

[limpyhobbler]

The federal coal program overseen by the Department of Interior is undermining President Obama’s climate commitment

The leaders of 21 organizations welcomed Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to her first day on the job today with a letter calling for “an immediate moratorium on new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin and a comprehensive review of the federal coal leasing program.”

Today’s letter emphasizes the huge quantities of carbon pollution unlocked by federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, and how that is undermining President Obama’s climate commitment and record. As the letter states; “Between 2011-2012, BLM leased over 2.1 billion tons of coal in the Powder River Basin, unlocking nearly 3.5 billion metric tons of CO2 that will be released when this coal is burned. In comparison, EPA’s newest passenger vehicle emissions standards will reduce an estimated 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of cars made from 2017-2025.”

In other words, the new coal leases that have been approved in just the last two years have unlocked so much carbon pollution, it more than cancels out what will be avoided by one of President Obama’s most significant climate achievements.
...

http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2013/04/15/21-groups-call-for-moratorium-on-powder-river-coal-in-letter-to-new-interior-secretary-sally-jewell/

[Nihil]

1. Expect major prevarication followed by a Friday afternoon concession.

> In other words, the new coal leases that have been approved in just the last two years
> have unlocked so much carbon pollution, it more than cancels out what will be avoided
> by one of President Obama’s most significant climate achievements.

And that assumes that Obama will actually achieve something significant (i.e., something
that has positive significance for the environment rather than for the fossil fuel industries).