Coal news and updates

This land is our land—it’s a promise as American as the Constitution. But for decades, Big Coal has treated our public lands as their land, destroying pristine wilderness areas to mine the dirty coal driving climate change.

 

Between 2009 and 2014, companies mined enough coal on public lands to put more than 3.9 billion metric tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent emissions of more than 825 million cars on the road—every year. In January, though, we had a major climate win: the U.S. Department of the Interior put a temporary freeze on leasing our public lands for coal mining (called a moratorium). But that could change soon, unless we act.

What Makes the Coal Moratorium a Big Deal?

 

Right now, nearly 40 percent of U.S. coal comes from our public lands. Burning all kinds of fossil fuels is detrimental for our climate, but coal is public enemy number one: When coal is burned for energy, it creates more carbon dioxide per unit than any other fossil fuel. It’s dirty and dangerous.The bottom line? When we lease our federal lands for coal, we’re fueling climate change. That’s why we need the Department of the Interior to end coal leasing on federal lands—permanently. We need to put the planet—and people—above big polluter profits.

source:ecowatch