Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium (Secretarial Order 3338)
Current understanding
Secretarial Order 3338 paused new federal coal leases pending a programmatic review of the BLM coal program, halting most new lease issuances on federal lands. The COAL Act of 2025 (introduced) would nullify SO 3338 and require BLM to process pending lease applications and complete their associated environmental reviews. Practical stakes include the pace and volume of new federal coal production, royalty and bonus revenue to states and the Treasury, and downstream emissions and local health/environment effects; status is legislative proposal at introduction.
Evidence log
- 2025-12-11 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to Buffalo Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment.: cross-connection with blm-buffalo-coal-leasing-rmp: The CRA nullification of the Buffalo RMP amendment complements the broader rollback of federal coal leasing restrictions traced under Secretarial Order 3338 — together they mark the reversal of the Obama- and Biden-era pauses on Powder River Basin federal coal leasing. (novelty: 3)
- 2023-03-21 — Energy Freedom Act: cross-connection with blm-oil-gas-leasing-regulations: By requiring congressional approval before executive moratoria on energy leasing, the bill would constrain future executive actions of the kind used in SO 3338 (coal) and apply the same procedural bar to oil, gas, and renewable leasing. (novelty: 2)
- 2025-10-23 — COAL Act of 2025: cross-connection with federal-coal-leasing-bonus-payments: Both are Mineral Leasing Act–based federal coal leasing measures moving in parallel — one (COAL Act) would unfreeze new lease issuance and mandate processing of pending applications, the other (HR7872) adjusts bonus payment terms for coal leases already issued or to be issued. (novelty: 2)