The Obama administration, in the first major review of the country’s coal program in three decades, on Friday ordered a pause on issuing coal-mining leases on federal land as part of new executive actions to fight climate change…“We have an obligation to current and future generations to ensure the federal coal program delivers a fair return to American taxpayers and takes into account its impacts on climate change,” Jewell said on a conference call…Federal land accounts for over 40 % of U.S. coal production. Most leases are on public land in Western states…As of the end of 2014, there were 308 active coal mining leases on more than 464,000 acres of public lands

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