| Dear Melissa, On Thursday, the United States Senate voted to confirm Sally Jewell as our next Secretary of the Interior. Jewell's confirmation gives us a major opportunity to put a stop to one of the most environmentally damaging programs the Interior Department runs -- the federal coal leasing program. Under this antiquated program, billions of tons of taxpayer-owned coal is essentially given away to international coal companies for about $1 a ton. They then ship it to Asia and sell it for 100 times that amount. Shockingly, the impacts on climate change aren't even taken into account.1 It amounts to a massive subsidization of climate change that hurts all of us while helping fossil fuel polluters get rich. Secretary Jewell has the power to put an end to this outrageous practice by placing a moratorium on federal coal leases, and we need to make sure it's one of the first things on her list as she begins her new position. Tell our new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell: Put an immediate moratorium on the disastrous federal coal leasing program. Click here to sign. The Department of the Interior has historically sold taxpayer-owned coal for next to nothing to provide cheap electricity domestically and promote economic development. But with coal use declining rapidly in the United States, major international companies are now working to ship the coal to Asia, where they can sell it for a huge profit. These so-called coal lease "auctions" are nothing of the sort – they often involve only one coal company. If this program continues, coal companies will reap windfall profits, taxpayers will get ripped off, and we'll all suffer the consequences of supercharged climate change. Providing a steady supply of coal for overseas nations to burn escalates climate change, and slows worldwide adoption of the sustainable energy technology that can save us from climate change. It is totally incompatible with the Obama administration's commitment to curbing climate pollution. During her confirmation hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month, Jewell emphasized that climate change will be a significant focus of President Obama's second term. But as long as the federal coal leasing program is allowed to continue, the huge negative impact will undermine anything else she is able to accomplish at Interior. We need a massive show of grassroots pressure urging Jewell to make good on her commitment by immediately stopping this outdated and dangerous program. Tell our new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell: Put an immediate moratorium on the disastrous federal coal leasing program. Click here to sign. Thanks for fighting to stop the Interior Department's disastrous federal coal leasing program. Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets Automatically add your name: Learn more about this campaign 1. Joe Smyth, "The BLM's Corrupt Coal Leasing Program: Billions In Subsidies To Peabody, Gigatons Of Carbon Pollution For The Rest Of Us," Think Progress, 6/22/12 | 
