"Feds on Notice As Court Smacks Down Climate Review For Coal"

"A major court decision dressing down the federal government for 'irrational' consideration of the climate impacts of coal leasing stands to reverberate throughout the Trump administration.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled that the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately consider the greenhouse gas emissions of four large coal leases in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

A three-judge panel rejected BLM's 'perfect substitution' theory, a recurring agency argument that suggests federal coal leasing has no significant impact on the climate because steady U.S. demand means that if coal isn't mined on federal land, the same amount will be mined elsewhere.

The court said the approach 'contradicted basic economic principles' and violated the National Environmental Policy Act."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for EnergyWire September 18, 2017.