A preliminary report conducted by the Department of the Interior says the office is considering whether to raise coal royalty rates on public lands and require compensation from coal companies for carbon emissions. Coal on public land accounts for 10 percent of total U.S. greenhouse emissions, says The Seattle Times.
Compared to prices on private lands, coal companies pay extremely low royalty fees on coal mines on public property—sometimes less than a dollar a ton. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has called for pushing coal companies to make up for their climate-change impact, while President Obama placed a moratorium on coal extraction from public lands last month.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to cancel the moratorium. The incoming president’s pick for Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, is from Montana, where the untapped coal deposits are some of the largest in the U.S. Zinke has voiced support for coal development. But Jewell says that if the new administration tries to push for greater coal development, environmentalists can use the department’s latest report as a defense in court.