Washington, D.C. – In response to the Interior Department launching the next steps in its review of the federal coal program, LCV Lands Conservation Fellow Andy French issued the following statement:

“Today’s announcement from the Interior Department is a welcome and critical next step in the work that must be done to fix our outdated and broken federal coal leasing program. We’re confident that the overwhelming public support for ending these giveaways to coal companies will be clear throughout this thorough environmental review process. Continuing to mine federally-managed coal at subsidized rates and without accounting for the full climate, public health, and environmental costs is simply not in our national interest.”

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