coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of the interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want and say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of interior has set and they get the coal department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop fair market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the result of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and depress the price of coal and made it much slower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we need

coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of the interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want and say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of the interior has set and they get the coal the department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop their market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for those coal and the results of that is that will companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and not depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale

coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that as it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want and say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of the interior has set and they get the coal the department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop fair market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the result of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we ne

coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want and say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of the interior has set and they get the coal department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop fair market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the results of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we need

the powder river basin in wyoming and montana through montana through idaho. and into washington oregon and to ports on the west coast of oregon and washington to go to china japan and india and there are three terminals that have been proposed to be built and if they are built and they are operating at full capacity the amount of coal traveling through would be as much carbon pollution once it's burned as the keystone pipeline amazin your article also talks of the massive land grab in the environmental destruction that's already leaked these areas a lab around what you saw on the ground firsthand during your investigation sure so the powder river basin is a huge area of wyoming and montana and it holds about forty percent of the nation's coal reserves it's the largest single source contributor to climate change and most of that coal is federally owned so the department of interior controls that leasing process and they've been leasing this coal for decades to big coal companies who have opened up large strip mines all across the region mostly in wyoming aroun

coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want they say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of the interior has set and they get the coal department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop their market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the result of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we need

river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of the interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want to say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of interior has set and they get the coal department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop fair market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the result of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and that's depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we

coal stocks to provide some of that and a lot of them are in this region of the powder river basin. and sentence federally owned the department of interior has a leasing process to give coal companies access to that coal so the way that they do that is it's a lease by application process so the coal companies basically nominate whatever land they want to say i want that you know several hundred thousand acres to mine the department of interior says ok we're going to hold an auction and the coal company bids and if it meets some hidden standard that the department of interior has set and they get the coal department the interior is charged with illegally they're obligated to charge fair market value but the way they develop fair market value is it's fraught with problems and so for decades taxpayers have been cheated of a fair return for this coal and the result of that is that coal companies have been able to sell coal cheaply and that's depress the price of coal and made it much lower than renewables so it's been very difficult to develop renewable energy at the scale which we need

i am from the communities of the navajo nation to the powder river basin and to my home in central appalachia who live in the wake of the extraction process can attest that coal, from cradle to grave, is harmful to public health. i am from southern west virginia, and i have been around coal my entire life. and we need to talk realistically about the human health impact of carbon pollution, not just its contribution to climate change. as a west virginia yang, i support epa's efforts and believe me that there are many more in appalachia who do as well. i feel that you cannot realistically talk about emissions without discussing the extraction, because they are indeed linked. by regulating the amount of coal power pollution that is produced by plants, you are also helping the communities where the coal industry on a daily basis rip coal from the ground and blow up entire mountains. let's call it what it is, coal pollution. whether you're living with a coal-fired power plant in your backyard or a mountaintop removal mine site over your community, you and your neighbors are getting sick because of

u i'm from the community of the navajo nation to the powder river basin and my home who live in the wake of the extraction process can attest that coal is harmful to public health. i'm from southern west virginia and i have been around coal my entire life. we need to talk realistically about the human health impact of carbon pollution not just the contribution to climate change. as a west virginia person i support epa's effort and believe me there are many more who do as well. i feel you cannot realistically talk about emission without discussing the extraction because they are -- by regulating the amount of coal power pollution that is produced by plants, you are also helping the communities where the coal industry on a daily basis rip coal from the ground and blow up entire mountains. let's call it what it is. coal pollution. whether you're living with a coal-fire power plant in the backyard or mountain top removal mine site over your community and your neighbors are getting sick because of the impact to air quality among others. the extraction process is poisoning our air, water, and