BLM begins NEPA review on lifting coal lease moratorium

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has begun a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of its decision to end an Obama-era coal leasing moratorium imposed over climate change concerns after a federal district court held the bureau unlawfully skipped such an analysis. BLM concludes in a May 22 draft environmental assessment (EA) -- a NEPA review document -- that lifting the January 2016 coal lease moratorium would have a negligible effect on cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, but that it...