Congress mandates coal-lease approvals, voids Obama-era moratorium
S. 3045 — COAL Act of 2025 · Filed by Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Interior Secretary to approve all pending coal lease applications that had begun environmental review by the bill's enactment date, and to grant any additional approvals needed for mining to start. It also voids a 2016 Obama-era moratorium on new federal coal leasing, clearing the way for future coal applications to be processed.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a mandatory approval mandate for pending coal leases and a void of the federal coal moratorium. These are not regulatory reforms or market-neutral procedures — they are direct transfers of extraction rights to coal operators and removal of environmental discretion, functioning as a subsidy of coal development at public expense.
What the text implies
- The bill compresses NEPA review into a single draft environmental assessment with no requirement for a final EIS, eliminating a key public-comment and agency-deliberation step that normally precedes major federal actions.
- By mandating approval 'as soon as practicable,' the bill removes agency discretion to consider changed circumstances (e.g., updated climate science, market conditions, or tribal consultation) between application and approval.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
coal mining companies; coal lease applicants; coal transportation and export infrastructure operators