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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 159 / Friday, August 20, 2021 / Notices contiguous lands for noncompetitive leasing by modifying an existing lease.
The BLM issued coal leasing regulations in 1979 that provided for two separate competitive coal leasing processes: 1 Regional leasing, where the BLM selects tracts within a region for competitive sale; and 2 Leasing by application, where an industry applicant nominates a particular tract of coal for competitive sale.
Regional coal leasing requires the BLM to select potential coal leasing tracts based on land use planning, expected coal demand, and potential environmental and economic impacts.4
This process includes use of a Federal/
State advisory board known as a Regional Coal Team 5 to provide input on leasing decisions. The regional leasing system has not been used since 1990, and currently all BLM coal leasing relies on applications.6 Leasing by application begins with an application to lease a tract of coal identified by the applicant.7 The BLM reviews the application for completeness to ensure that it conforms to existing land use plans and to ensure that it contains sufficient geologic data to determine the fair market value of the coal. The agency then prepares an analysis under NEPA
either an Environmental Assessment or an EIS and seeks public comment on the proposed lease sale. Through this process, the BLM evaluates alternative tract configurations to maximize competitiveness and value, and to avoid bypassing Federal coal. The BLM also consults with other appropriate Federal and State agencies and Tribal governments, and the BLM determines whether the surface manager consents to leasing in situations where the surface is not administered by the BLM.
Preparations for the actual lease sale begin with the BLM formulating, after obtaining public comment, a pre-sale estimate of the fair market value of the coal. This estimate is confidential and is used to evaluate the bids for the lease bonus received during the sale.
Sealed bids are accepted prior to the date of the sale and are publicly 4 43

CFR part 3420.
BLM regulations require a Regional Coal Team to be established for each coal production region, comprised of representatives from the BLM
and the Governors of each State in the region. The Regional Coal Teams are to guide the coal planning process for each coal production region, serve as the forum for BLM and State consultation, and make recommendations on coal leasing levels. 43 CFR
3400.4.
6 While the Powder River Basin PRB coal production region was decertified in 1992, the PRB
regional coal team is still in place and meets periodically to review regional activity and make recommendations on coal leasing in the region.
7 See 43 CFR subpart 3425.

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announced during the sale. The winning bid is the highest bid that meets or exceeds the coal tracts presale estimated fair market value from an applicant that meets all eligibility requirements and has paid the appropriate fees and payments.
There are two separate bonding requirements for Federal coal leases.
The BLM requires a bond adequate to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the lease that must cover a portion of potential liabilities associated with the bonus bid, rental fees, and royalties. In addition, under SMCRA, the OSMRE or the State with regulatory primacy requires sufficient bonding to cover anticipated reclamation costs.
A Federal coal lease has an initial term of 20 years, but it may be terminated after 10 years if the coal resources are not diligently developed, 30 U.S.C. 207. Existing leases that have met their diligence requirements may be renewed for additional 10-year terms following the initial 20-year term.
3. Previous Comprehensive Reviews The Department has previously conducted two separate, comprehensive reviews of the Federal coal program. In the late 1960s, there were serious concerns about speculation in the coal leasing program. A BLM study discovered a sharp increase in the total Federal acreage under lease and a consistent decline in coal production. In response, the Department undertook the development of a planning system to determine the size, timing, and location of future coal leases, and the preparation of a PEIS for the entire Federal coal leasing program. Beginning in February 1973, the Department instituted a complete moratorium on the issuance of new coal prospecting permits, and a moratorium with limited exceptions on the issuance of new Federal coal leases: New leases were issued only to maintain existing mines or to supply reserves for production, where near future meant that development and production were to commence within 3 and 5 years, respectively. The moratorium was scaled back over time, but was not completely lifted until 1981, after the PEIS had been completed, a new leasing system had been adopted through regulation, and litigation was resolved.
In 1982, concerns about the Federal coal program arose again, this time related to allegations that the Government did not receive fair market value from a large lease sale in the Powder River Basin under the new procedures adopted as part of the programmatic review in the 1970s.

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Among other reports on the issue, the Government Accountability Office GAO issued a report in May 1983
concluding that the Department had received roughly $100 million less than it should have for the sale. In response, in July 1983, Congress directed the Secretary to appoint members to a commission, known as the Linowes Commission, to investigate fair market value policies for Federal coal leasing.
Congress also, in the 1984
Appropriations Act, directed the Office of Technology Assessment OTA to study whether the Departments coal leasing program was compatible with the nationally mandated environmental protection goals.
As part of the 1984 Appropriations Bill, Congress imposed a moratorium on the sale or lease of coal on public lands, subject to certain exceptions, starting in 1983 and ending 90 days after publication of the Linowes Commissions report. The Linowes Commission published the Report of the Commission on Fair Market Value Policy for Federal Coal Leasing in February 1984. The OTA report, Environmental Protection in the Federal Coal Leasing Program, was released in May 1984. The principal message of these reports was that the Department should: 1 Temper its pace of coal leasing; 2 improve and better document its procedures for receiving fair market value; and 3 take care to balance competing resource uses in making lease decisions.
Secretary of the Interior William P.
Clark extended the suspension of coal leasing with exceptions for emergency leasing and processing preference right lease applications, among others while the Department completed its comprehensive review of the program.
This review included proposed modifications to be made by the Department in response to the Linowes Commission and OTA reports. Secretary Clark announced on August 30, 1984, that the Department would prepare an EIS supplement to the 1979
Programmatic EIS for the Federal coal management program. The Department issued the Record of Decision for the Programmatic EIS supplement in January 1986, in the form of a Secretarial Issue Document. That document recommended continuation of the leasing program with modifications. In conjunction with those modifications, Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel lifted the coal leasing moratorium in 1987.
On March 17, 2015, Secretary S.M.R.
Jewell called for an honest and open conversation about modernizing the Federal coal program. As described
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