Obama to Halt New Coal-Mining Leases

The Obama administration is set to announce a moratorium on new coal-mining leases as it reviews how taxpayers are compensated for resources taken from government lands, The Washington Post reported. Citing officials and activists briefed on the plans, the Post reported that Obama will reveal plans to undertake a sweeping review of how the federal coal program is structured and managed. The move comes three days after Obama said in his final State of the Union address that he would push for changing “the way we manage our oil and coal resources so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”