The Herald covered the Bureau of Land Management’s listening session to get public response to the Department of Interior’s proposed reforms to the federal coal-leasing programs in Denver (Aug. 10). Unfortunately, the listening session in Farmington, where speakers talked about the costs of coal, costs outweighing the value of coal to our economy – medical, lost tourism revenues, climate disruption – was not covered.
Taxpayers have lost $30 billion in revenues because BLM has failed to charge fair-market value for our publicly owned coal, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Royalties are split 50/50 between the federal government and states where the coal is mined; that money could be going to our schools and roads. Speakers’ reform suggestions included increasing royalty rates to 18.5 percent (currently the BLM gets only 6.3 percent in Colorado and 5 percent in New Mexico) and making bonding adequate to prevent costly abandoned mine cleanups at taxpayer expense.
In Farmington, only three speakers favored the status quo. The overwhelming majority shared the theme, “Keep it in the ground!” These more than 60 speakers included members of the faith community, diverse cultural and ethnic groups – about 30 were members of the Navajo Nation or New Mexico pueblos – and environmental groups.
They expressed concern that coal is a major driver of climate change and must be replaced with cleaner energy sources; some cited extreme events such as Hurricane Sandy, the Northwest’s wildfires, the recent drought in New Mexico and the ongoing severe drought in California. Several spoke passionately about how coal has not brought its promised prosperity to many members of the Diné tribe. Many still live in poverty, there is a 50 percent unemployment rate in spite of area coal mines and coal-fired power plants, and there are tribal members who still do not have electricity.
Personal accounts of human deaths and illnesses that medical studies show are caused or exacerbated by burning coal and mining were shared – asthma, respiratory diseases, including black lung, and cancer. I wish the Herald had also reported these thoughtful voices of the sessions’ majorities.
Janet Rees
Bloomfield
