The Interior Department has apologized after an official incorrectly blamed the Obama administration for blocking approval of two coal mines.

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt wrote a Jan. 28 opinion piece in the Grand Junction, Colo., Daily Sentinel, his hometown paper, lauding the Trump administration’s pro-coal agenda.

One accomplishment Bernhardt boasted about was approving expansion applications for the West Elk and King II mines in Colorado. “These moves were only possible with the lifting of the coal moratorium,” he wrote. “Members of the previous administration may scoff at 222 jobs as a drop in the bucket, but we understand that this number means a lot in rural communities.”

The Obama administration did indeed put a moratorium on new leases for coal mines on federal land in 2016, as part of an effort to review the environmental and climate impact of coal mining and whether to increase costs.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-env...a-blocked-coal


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