Isra-Mart srl:New US coal mining leases anger environmental groups

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Isra-Mart srl news:

The US government has announced plans to sell mining leases for 758 million tonnes of coal, much to the anger of environmental groups.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced four competitive lease sales for tracts of coal in Wyoming's Powder River Basin this week, as part of an arrangement that would see payment from the leases go to the US Treasury.

The sales will begin in May, running each month until August. They have been planned in response to Lease by Application (LBA) filings from coal mining companies with existing Powder River Basin operations.

Antelope Coal filed LBAs on 456 million tonnes of coal, while Alpha Coal West filed one on 222 million tonnes. Caballo Coal Company picked up the rest.

The leases represent a significant increase to US coal production. The 13 active coal mines in the Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin produced 428 million tonnes of coal in 2010. Total 2009 coal production in the US was 1.1 billion tonnes. The federal government made $598m (£370m) in royalties from the Basin during the last fiscal year, which it shared with the state of Wyoming.

The Bureau of Land Management is expected to make decisions on further coal tracts on other areas in the Wyoming portion of the Basin. They contain an estimated 1.6 billion tonnes of coal.

The move sparked criticism from environmental groups who accused the administration of undermining its high-profile proposals for a Clean Energy Standard that would require firms to source 80 per cent of their energy from clean sources by 2035.

Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy programme director for WildGuardians, said that the initiative flew directly in the face of President Obama's stated goal of a clean energy future.

"Rather than look ahead to our energy future, secretary Salazar seems content to keep looking in the rearview mirror, keeping this country dangerously dependent on dirty energy," he said.

The Department of the Interior argued that coal in the region is relatively low in sulphur, reducing some of the pollution emitted when it burns.