COAL Act Mandates Rapid Approval of Pending Federal Coal Leases, Repeals 2016 Oversight Rule

The Combating Obstruction Against Leasing Act of 2025—or the COAL Act—is a direct, no-nonsense mandate designed to push pending federal coal lease applications across the finish line, fast. The bill centers on accelerating the approval process for applications that were already in the pipeline when this Act was enacted. Specifically, it requires the Secretary of the Interior to finalize the fair market value of the coal and then grant the qualified applications as quickly as possible (SEC. 2).

This isn't about setting up a new process; it’s about hitting the gas on old ones. For any coal leases that were already awarded but haven't started digging, the bill also mandates that the Secretary grant any additional approvals needed to get mining activities underway. Think of it like this: if a company has been waiting years for the government to finish its paperwork so they can start extracting coal, this bill cuts the line and forces the final signature.

The Fast-Track Mandate: Approvals Over Analysis

For those applications that qualify—meaning they were submitted under the BLM’s lease by application program and had already started the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—the bill essentially removes the final say from the agency. NEPA is the law that requires the government to study the environmental consequences of major actions. While the bill requires the Secretary to publish a draft environmental assessment if one hasn’t been done, the end game is mandatory: the Secretary must grant the application (SEC. 2).

This creates a high-pressure situation for federal agencies. The instruction to complete all these steps “as soon as possible” means the process of determining the coal’s fair market value and completing environmental assessments might be rushed. For communities near these proposed mine sites, this is a big deal. Rushed environmental reviews can mean less scrutiny on potential impacts to local air quality, water resources, and infrastructure. When the law mandates the outcome (granting the lease) rather than allowing the process to determine the best course of action, it prioritizes resource extraction over comprehensive public and environmental protection.

The Sudden End of Secretarial Order 3338

Section 3 of the COAL Act is short but impactful: it completely repeals Secretarial Order 3338, which was issued back in 2016. This order had placed certain constraints on federal coal leasing. By wiping this order off the books, the bill removes a specific layer of administrative oversight and policy that governed how new federal coal leases were managed. Essentially, it clears the decks for future coal leasing decisions by removing a previous administration’s policy constraint, potentially opening the door wider for future extraction activity without the specific checks that Order 3338 had put in place.

Who Benefits, and Who Pays?

The clear winners here are the coal companies and applicants who have been waiting for years to get their federal leases finalized. This bill provides them with regulatory certainty and a mandated green light to start mining. For the rest of us, particularly the general public and communities living near these tracts, the impact is less clear—and potentially negative.

If you live downstream or downwind of a proposed mine, the acceleration of these projects means potential environmental impacts are coming sooner. Furthermore, forcing a rapid determination of the “fair market value” of the coal could mean the public is getting less than the maximum value for public resources, simply because the appraisal process was hurried to meet a legislative deadline. This bill is a legislative shortcut that prioritizes speed and production for a specific industry over the potentially slower, more careful process of environmental and financial due diligence.