Interior Department Must Stop Coal Industry Giveaway

WASHINGTON (June 12, 2013) – A scathing new Inspector General’s report on the Department of the Interior’s coal management program shows that the agency must act quickly to end improper giveaways to the coal industry, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Sharon Buccino, director of NRDC’s Land and Wildlife Program, made the following comment:

“This report makes it clear: At a time when we’re struggling with federal budget cuts, we’re simultaneously giving away taxpayer dollars and the public’s valuable natural resources to the coal industry.

“And what do we get in return? Ruined public lands, health problems, pollution and climate change problems that these coal companies leave for us and our children to clean up in their wake.

“Interior Secretary Jewell has the authority and the duty to put a true price on coal that includes its social and environmental costs. It’s clear she should act now to do so.”

The report comes as the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has almost 4 billion tons of coal ready for sale from the Powder River Basin, the nation’s largest coal producing region.

For more details on the agency’s coal industry giveaway, and why it’s important for the agency to act immediately to update its coal sales program, see NRDC Senior Advocate Theo Spencer’s blog here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/tspencer/center_for_american_progress_h.html.

And to read the Inspector General’s report, see here: http://www.doi.gov/oig/reports/upload/CR-EV-BLM-0001-2012Public.pdf