A federal appeals panel on Wednesday reversed a lower court ruling, effectively invalidating an Obama-era lawsuit suspending new federal coal leases.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a short six-page decision, reinstated the 2016 moratorium by Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in 2022. The August ruling was overturned. The National Mining Association (NMA), which led the appeal of the 2022 lower court ruling along with Montana and Wyoming, hailed the ruling Wednesday as a victory for American energy.
“This is a victory for American energy, and the court recognizes the need to overturn this irrevocably flawed ruling,” NMA President and CEO Rich Nolan said in a statement. I’m satisfied with that.”
“This ruling allows important projects to once again move forward and help bring affordable, reliable power to the grid, while creating jobs and economic development across the country and contributing hundreds of millions of dollars each year. “This will provide much-needed funding to federal, state and local governments,” he added.
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A truck loaded with coal at a mine near Cumberland, Kentucky, on August 26, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In 2016, under the leadership of then-Secretary Sally Jewell, the Department of the Interior (DOI) issued an unprecedented moratorium on all new coal leases on federal lands. And a year later, former DOI Director Ryan Zinke rescinded that order shortly after his confirmation to the Senate, saying that “it is not in the public interest to suspend federal coal programs for an extended period of time.”
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Current DOI Director Deb Haaland revoked Zinke’s executive actions shortly after taking office in 2021, but stopped short of reinstating the moratorium on coal leases. But at the same time, environmental groups continued to litigate challenges to the Zinke order, leading to a 2022 ruling blocking the order, even though the Biden administration had already rescinded it.
Lawyers for the NMA, Montana and Wyoming argued in court earlier this month that the Biden administration’s actions invalidated the lawsuit and therefore invalidated the 2016 moratorium.
Former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell speaks at the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“The Zinke Order and its [environmental] This analysis shows no litigation or controversy, current Secretary of the Interior Haaland surrendered them long before the district court required a second revocation, and the plaintiffs have not challenged Haaland’s orders. “There is no room for debate,” NMA attorney James Auslander said during oral argument for the Ninth Circuit. Courthouse News Service reported on February 6th.
The commission’s ruling Wednesday upheld arguments presented by the NMA, Montana and Wyoming.
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“The district court reasoned that the Haaland order’s failure to reinstate the coal lease moratorium from the Jewell order meant that ‘the Zinke order remained partially in effect,'” the decision states. . “That’s a mistake.”
Former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on March 29, 2017, rescinded the coal moratorium and said, “For too many communities, energy on public lands is a missed opportunity and requires local consultation and partnerships.” We haven’t been able to incorporate it.” (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
“The Haaland Order definitively ‘nullified’ the Zinke Order,” the article continues. “While the appellees may be dissatisfied with the government’s position that Haaland Church did not reinstate the suspension of the Jewel Church, this does not mean that challenges to the defunct Zinke Church persist. There is no basis for concluding that.”
Following the ruling, environmental plaintiffs in the case, including activist groups Earthjustice, the Montana Environmental Information Center, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and Wild Earth Guardians, lamented the impact of the ruling and urged the Biden administration to block coal leases. They called for immediate action to ban it.
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“This decision requires a rapid transition to clean energy and could open the door to coal leasing on federal lands,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. . “There is no secure climate future for the federal coal program. It must end, and the Interior Department must act now to ensure it happens.”
