The COAL Act of 2025 mandates that the Secretary of the Interior promptly complete environmental assessments where already started, finalize fair market value determinations, take all intermediate steps, and grant ‘‘qualified’’ coal lease applications filed under the Mineral Leasing Act and BLM’s lease-by-application rules. It also requires the Department to issue any additional Departmental approvals needed for previously awarded federal coal leases so mining can begin.
The law removes administrative discretion created by Secretarial Order 3338 by stating that the order shall have no force or effect, regardless of any judicial decision or departmental review. Practically, the bill forces the Interior Department to prioritize coal leasing and delivery of downstream mine approvals, which will shift agency workloads, invite legal challenges, and change the timetable for federal coal development and community impacts.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill defines a ‘‘qualified application’’ as a pending lease-by-application under the Mineral Leasing Act for which NEPA review has begun, then requires the Secretary to publish a draft environmental assessment if needed, finalize fair market value, perform intermediate steps, and grant the lease "as soon as practicable." It also mandates that the Department issue any additional approvals required for mining to commence on previously awarded leases.
Who It Affects
Directly affects applicants who have pending BLM lease-by-application filings under subpart 3425, holders of existing federal coal leases awaiting downstream approvals, the Bureau of Land Management staff who process leases, and parties that use or contest federal coal leasing decisions (states, tribes, industry, and NGOs).
Why It Matters
The bill converts pending administrative discretion into statutory direction, compressing timelines for approvals and removing one named administrative safeguard (Secretarial Order 3338). That changes the regulatory baseline for federal coal leasing and raises implementation and legal-risk questions for Interior and stakeholders.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The COAL Act focuses on coal lease applications that are already in the Bureau of Land Management’s ‘‘lease by application’’ pipeline and where the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process has at least begun. For those ‘‘qualified applications,’’ the statute forces the Department of the Interior to act quickly: if a draft environmental assessment hasn’t been published, the Secretary must publish it; the Secretary must finalize the fair market value for the tract; the Secretary must carry out whatever intermediate administrative steps are necessary; and ultimately the Secretary must grant the lease.
The directive applies “as soon as practicable,” converting what would normally be agency discretion into a statutory obligation.
The bill’s scope includes previously awarded federal coal leases as well: the Secretary must also issue any additional Department of the Interior approvals required for mining activities to commence. The text does not enumerate each possible ‘‘additional approval,’’ but it ties those approvals to the Department and its component bureaus, which would include the BLM and any other Interior entities with permitting or authorizing roles tied to mining start-up.Finally, the COAL Act expressly removes any force or effect from Secretarial Order 3338, stating that the bill applies notwithstanding any judicial decision to the contrary or any departmental review.
The statute therefore attempts to preempt an administrative pause or departmental review by making Congressional command the operative rule for future federal coal leasing in the contexts covered by the bill.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill defines a "qualified application" as any lease-by-application under the Mineral Leasing Act and BLM subpart 3425 for which NEPA review has commenced.
For each qualified application the Secretary must publish a draft environmental assessment if not already published, finalize the tract’s fair market value, complete intermediate administrative steps, and grant the lease.
The statute requires the Department to issue any additional Interior approvals needed for mining to begin on previously awarded federal coal leases.
All actions directed by the bill must occur "as soon as practicable" after enactment, rather than on a discretionary timetable.
Section 3 declares Secretarial Order 3338 to have no force or effect, explicitly overriding that named order irrespective of judicial decisions or departmental reviews.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
States the Act’s short names: the Combating Obstruction Against Leasing Act of 2025 and COAL Act of 2025. This is purely caption language and establishes how the statute will be cited in law and regulatory references.
Key definitions for the leasing mandate
Defines the operative terms that limit the statute’s reach. "Coal lease" is tied to the specific BLM lease form (Form 3400–012), and "qualified application" is limited to pending lease-by-application filings under the Mineral Leasing Act and BLM subpart 3425 for which NEPA review has commenced. The definition anchors the bill to existing regulatory and statutory frameworks and narrows its mandatory commands to applications already in the NEPA pipeline.
Mandatory leasing and downstream approvals
Directs the Secretary to take a sequence of specified actions "as soon as practicable": publish a draft environmental assessment if one hasn’t been published, finalize fair market value for the tract, take all intermediate administrative actions necessary to grant the application, and grant the lease. It also instructs the Department to issue any additional Interior approvals needed for mining to commence on previously awarded leases. Practically, this compels the Department to prioritize lease processing and to push through subsequent authorizations tied to mining starts.
Nullification of Secretarial Order 3338
Declares that Secretarial Order 3338 has no force or effect, and states that the statute’s commands apply notwithstanding any judicial ruling or departmental review. By naming and nullifying that Order, the bill removes a specific administrative constraint and replaces it with a statutory direction that governs future federal coal leasing in the contexts the Act covers.
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Explore Energy in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Applicants with pending BLM lease-by-application filings — the bill converts ongoing NEPA processes into a statutory directive to publish assessments, finalize values, and issue leases, materially increasing the likelihood and speed of lease grants.
- Operators and investors holding previously awarded federal coal leases — the Department must issue any additional Interior approvals required for mining to commence, reducing administrative obstacles between lease award and production.
- Coal-producing states and local economies tied to coal extraction — expedited leasing and approvals can accelerate mine starts, supporting employment and local revenue expectations tied to federal coal development.
- Companies supplying mining infrastructure and services — a faster path from lease to production shortens project lead times and clarifies commercial prospects for contractors and equipment vendors.
- Coal purchasers and downstream industries that rely on federal coal supplies — the statute aims to deliver supply certainty by moving applications and approvals toward completion.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of the Interior and BLM staff — the statute imposes an expedited, prioritized workload that may require shifting staff and resources, hiring, or reassigning personnel to meet the mandate.
- Environmental organizations and affected communities — requiring expedited approvals may reduce the effective time and administrative discretion available for environmental review and public engagement, increasing the risk of environmental impacts.
- Tribes and local governments near proposed leases — faster approvals can compress consultation windows and decision timelines, potentially increasing local burdens from mining operations without additional mitigation time.
- Other land-use and permitting applicants — prioritizing coal applications may divert agency attention and administrative capacity away from other permit streams, delaying non-coal projects that share BLM resources.
- Federal litigants and the judiciary — the statutory commands are likely to generate litigation around the scope of compliance, adequacy of NEPA documentation, and other statutory obligations, imposing costs on parties and courts.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill resolves one problem—delays and uncertainty for coal applicants—by substituting a statutory command for agency discretion, but that solution heightens another: protecting environmental review, other statutory obligations, and meaningful public and tribal participation. In short, the statute prioritizes rapid lease approval and mine-start approvals at the expense of the time and discretion agencies ordinarily use to integrate competing legal obligations and stakeholder concerns.
The statute commands action "as soon as practicable," a deliberately flexible timeline that will be litigated and operationalized by Interior. That phrase accelerates processing without setting a firm deadline, producing uncertainty about how quickly BLM must act and how courts will review claims of noncompliance.
The bill insists compliance with NEPA by requiring publication of a draft environmental assessment "as required under" NEPA, but it does not require preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement; whether that omission short-circuits deeper review will turn on the factual record and agency judgments that courts typically review.
The mandate to "take all intermediate actions necessary to grant" a lease and to "grant" the lease raises questions about how the requirement interacts with other federal statutes and permit regimes. The text is department-focused — it requires additional Department of the Interior approvals for mining to begin — but it is silent about other federal or state permits (for example, Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act obligations) that may be required before mining activities can physically commence.
That creates ambiguity about whether the statute is intended to preempt or merely accelerate interagency and cross-jurisdictional permitting hurdles. Finally, naming and nullifying Secretarial Order 3338 turns a policy restraint into a statutory override; that will likely draw legal challenges over whether Congress’s command displaces ongoing administrative processes or unsettles prior case law, creating a secondary litigation front even as the Department attempts to comply.
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