Sally Jewell can end the Department of Interior’s coal industry giveaways

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Kelly Mitchell

As the new Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Sally Jewel has an important opportunity to end the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) giveaways to the coal industry, which are unlocking enormous amounts of carbon pollution, wasting taxpayer dollars, and subsidizing the coal industry’s efforts to export publicly-owned coal to Asia.

A federal coal leasing program run by DOI’s Bureau of Land Management has resulted in almost $30 billion in government handouts to the coal industry. The giveaway happens through noncompetitive “auctions” where the Department sells the rights to publicly-owned coal for a fraction of what it’s worth. Continue reading →

The Myth of China’s Endless Coal Demand: A missing market for US exports

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Lifeng Fang

It’s hard to imagine living in a place where the air is so dirty, going outside to breathe could be the most dangerous thing you do all day. It’s even harder to imagine those conditions in a major metropolitan city. However, that is the reality in Beijing at the start of 2013. Earlier this year, the city’s smog hit record levels, with dangerous fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 reaching 886 micrograms per cubic meter – more than double the US EPA’s highest grading of “hazardous.” Continue reading →