Overview

• Interior will open about 13.1 million acres of federal land for coal leasing and cut royalty rates to 7%, with lease approvals slated to move faster across states including Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Alabama.
• The Energy Department announced $625 million for coal power, including $350 million to recommission or modernize units, $175 million for rural reliability projects, $50 million for wastewater systems, $25 million for dual-firing retrofits and $25 million for natural-gas cofiring development.
• The EPA plans a five-year delay for Biden-era wastewater discharge limits on steam-electric plants and will solicit input that could inform further changes, while also moving to revisit implementation of the Regional Haze Rule.
• DOE has not clarified how the $625 million will be delivered, leaving questions about whether the money will take the form of grants, loans or other financing.
• Environmental and clean-energy groups condemned the actions as costly and harmful to public health, and energy analysts cautioned that market forces still challenge a lasting coal resurgence.