Law360, New York (February 11, 2016, 10:44 AM EST) -- Days after President Obama's State of the Union address, which included a commitment to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced, on Jan. 15, 2015, it would suspend all federal coal leasing for a minimum of three years while the DOI completes a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) to consider reforms to the program.[1] U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell concludes in Secretarial Order 3338 that the nation's coal leasing program is outdated and directs the Bureau of Land Management to comprehensively review of the program and consider updating it to better reflect the public's concerns with global climate change and fair return from federal coal resources. While Jewell maintains the ban will not affect coal production or impact the nation's ability to generate electricity, the action targets the Powder River Basin (PRB), the single largest source of U.S. coal where more than 90 percent of the coal reserves are federally owned. This alone suggests the potential for a profound effect on the future supply of low-cost reliable coal, jobs and revenues....