Overnight Energy: Interior chief reopens federal coal program

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 03/29/17 5:42 PM ET

INTERIOR ROLLS BACK COAL MORATORIUM: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ended the Obama administration’s moratorium on federal coal-mining leases Wednesday.

Zinke signed an order to let the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resume the leasing process. The signing ceremony was in his Washington, D.C., office, where he was surrounded by Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and staffers.

The action implements parts of an executive order that President Trump signed Tuesday — focused on repealing environmental policies and restrictions on energy production — under the goal of increasing energy independence.

“The coal moratorium that was set in place … is a waste of money,” Zinke said shortly before signing the order in his wood-paneled office, which includes a collection of taxidermied animals and a portrait of President Teddy Roosevelt.

{mosads}The coal moratorium was instituted early last year under the Obama administration. It was part of a review process Interior had launched to determine how to charge mining companies more to account for the climate change costs of the coal they took.

Zinke said that review is being ended, because it was unnecessary.

“We feel strongly that the current process on reviewing coal is appropriate,” he said.

“Rather than doing the social cost of carbon, you have to look at the social cost of not having a job too,” he continued. “All of us want clean air and clean water. And we’re going to make sure we ensure that.”

Federal land accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s coal production and about a third of its reserves. It includes areas such as the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, the most productive coal area in the country.

The coal from federal lands, when burned, also accounts for 13 percent of the nation’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, or 769 million tons annually, according to the nonprofit group Resources for the Future.

Read more here.

Zinke tweaks review of coal program’s royalty rates: Zinke’s order also upended an Obama administration review of royalty rates for federal coal leasing.

Obama officials had hoped to update the federal coal program, suggesting in January the royalty rates should go up.

Zinke’s order ended that review, which was scheduled to last for potentially a couple more years. Instead, he established a commission within the agency to study issues like royalty and rent rates, including the possibility of raising those rates.

“I want to make sure how we value [coal] and our rents are transparent … and the taxpayer is getting fair value from assets that are on public lands,” Zinke said.

That isn’t enough for some royalty reform campaigners.

In lifting the moratorium now, they’re opening the door to new leases that will lock in the royalty rates that have already been found to be unfair to U.S. taxpayers,” Jenny Harbine, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, said.

“They are locking in those really disastrous leases before they’ve even completed that consideration.”

Taken together, Zinke didn’t promise Wednesday’s actions would immediately revive the coal industry.

“There has been, I would say, not a rush in the last few years for coal leases,” Zinke said Wednesday, blaming both the energy market and federal regulations.

“We’ll see where the market goes, and we’ll be prepared to process them as we open up the areas for lease, and we’ll see.”

Read more here.

HOUSE APPROVES EPA SCIENCE BILL: The House passed a bill Wednesday to restrict what kind of scientific studies and data the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can use to justify its regulations.

The Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act, or HONEST Act, passed 228-194. It would prohibit the EPA from writing any regulation that uses science that is not publicly available.

It’s the latest push by the House GOP to clamp down on what they say has turned into an out-of-control administrative state that enforces expensive, unworkable regulations that are not scientifically sound.

But Democrats, environmentalists and health advocates say the HONEST Act is intended to handcuff the EPA. They say it would irresponsibly leave the EPA unable to write important regulatory protections, since the agency might not have the ability to release some parts of the scientific data underpinning them.

“This legislation ensures that sound science is the basis for EPA decisions and regulatory actions,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the Science Committee, said on the House floor Wednesday.

“The days of ‘trust-me’ science are over. In our modern information age, federal regulations should be based only on data that is available for every American to see and that can be subjected to independent review,” he said. “That’s called the scientific method.”

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), the Science Committee’s top Democrat, slammed her GOP colleagues for what she called a “misguided” effort to stop sensible EPA regulations.

“The secret science bills the Republicans tried to enact over the previous two congresses were insidious bills, designed from the outset to prevent EPA from using the best available science to meet its obligations under the law. Those bills were constructed to hamstring the ability of EPA to do about anything to protect the American public,” she said.

Read more here.

CLIMATE SCIENCE HEARING DESCENDS INTO SNIPING: Meanwhile, the Science Committee’s hearing on climate change science on Wednesday turned into a partisan sparring fest.

Smith opened the hearing by contending there are “significant questions” about the understanding of humans’ impact on climate change.

“Much of climate science today appears to be based more on exaggerations, personal agendas and questionable predictions than on the scientific method,” he said.

“Those who engage in such actions do a disservice to the American people and to their own profession.”

Democrats hit back at that view, which is out of line with the consensus opinion of the majority of climate scientists.

“The current scientific consensus on human-caused climate change is based on thousands of studies conducted by thousands of scientists all around the globe,” Johnson said.

The back and forth extended to other members of the committee, with Republicans raising questions about climate change and Democrats turning to their witness, climate scientist Michael Mann, to refute those type of doubts.

At one point, Mann faced off directly with Smith, highlighting a Friday article in Science magazine that criticized Smith for speaking at a conference for climate change skeptics.

“That is not known as an objective writer or magazine,” Smith said.

Mann replied, “Well, it is ‘Science’ magazine.”

Read more here.

ON TAP THURSDAY: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on energy infrastructure in Alaska.

AROUND THE WEB:

Researchers observing the Dead Sea have found evidence of unprecedented droughts that occurred more than 10,000 years ago, The Guardian reports.

Cost overruns at nuclear power plant sites drove Westinghouse into bankruptcy, Reuters reports.

Duke Energy Corp. is suing its insurers for allegedly failing to cover costs related to its coal ash cleanups, the Charlotte Observer reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

-House votes to restrict EPA’s use of science
-Energy Dept. tells staff not to use phrase ‘climate change’: report
-Trump administration ends Obama’s coal-leasing freeze
-House panel hearing becomes climate change sparring session
-Interior secretary reopens federal coal mining
-Interior secretary hints border wall could be on Mexican land
-Trump lawyers ask court to halt climate rule case
-Senate Dem: Trump is attacking science
-Trump climate move risks unraveling Paris commitments