COAL Act of 2025

The COAL Act of 2025 is a bill that would force the Secretary of the Interior to rapidly advance certain federal coal lease applications. It defines a subset of “qualified applications” and requires the Department of the Interior (specifically the Bureau of Land Management) to act swiftly to publish a draft environmental assessment (if it hasn’t been published for comment), finalize the lease’s fair market value, take all intermediate steps to grant the lease, and then actually grant the qualified application. It also directs the department to grant any remaining approvals needed to start mining on already awarded leases. Additionally, the bill would nullify Secretarial Order 3338 (issued in 2016) and any judicial decisions that might stand in the way of expediting future coal leasing. In short, the act is designed to accelerate federal coal leasing and mining activity, potentially increasing coal production and royalties but with fewer procedural delays and environmental review constraints.