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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is making available today the approximately 240,000 comments it received as it prepares to perform an in-depth study of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Federal coal leasing program through a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Coal PEIS). 

The online posting will include individual submissions and the transcripts of the six public scoping meetings held across the country in May and June. Approximately 2,000 people attended the meetings, which were held in Casper, Wyo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Knoxville, Tenn.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Seattle, Wash; and Pittsburgh, Pa. The BLM is also posting video of the three meetings that were recorded. 

The BLM is using the input from the meetings and the comments from the American public to help identify and evaluate potential reforms to the Federal coal leasing program to ensure it provides a fair return to taxpayers and accounts for environmental impacts, while continuing to help meet the nation’s energy needs. 

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced this review in January 2016 to examine concerns about the Federal coal program that have been raised by the Government Accountability Office, the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General, members of Congress, interested stakeholders and the public. Her announcement builds upon President Obama’s call to improve the way the nation manages its fossil fuel resources as the country moves toward a clean energy economy. 

The BLM expects to release a scoping report for the Coal PEIS by the end of the calendar year. The scoping report will describe the scoping process and summarize the issues raised by commenters, as well as discuss alternatives that may be evaluated in the Coal PEIS.