Federal Appeals Court Lifts Freeze on New Coal Leases, Overturning Previous Ruling on Environmental Review Requirements.

A federal appellate court has overturned a lower court ruling that had frozen new coal leases on public lands. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a previous decision in 2022 that reinstated an Obama-era moratorium on reviewing most new coal leasing applications. The case centers on whether the Trump administration was required under the National Environmental Policy Act to study the environmental effects of permitting more coal mining. A coalition of environmental groups, states, and one tribe sued the Interior Department for alleging that Zinke’s move violated NEPA. The court found that even if environmental groups are dissatisfied with the federal government’s position that the Obama-Obama-era coal leasing moratorium was no longer in place, there is no basis for concluding that a challenge to the Zinke Order is live.