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Home page for U.S. public lands agency showcases coal mine

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

An image of an open-pit coal mine welcomed visitors to the federal public lands agency’s website today.

WASHINGTON >> In a clear message about its policy priorities, the Trump administration has updated the home page for the federal agency that oversees public lands to showcase a large photo of an open-pit coal mine.

The photo was stripped across the Bureau of Land Management site after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced approval Wednesday of a $22 million lease of more than 6,000 acres in Utah to a coal-mining company. In the past, the web page has more typically featured photos of fields of wildflowers, green forests and snow-capped mountains.

The move comes after President Donald Trump last month lifted a freeze imposed in the waning days of the Obama administration on leases of public lands for coal mining. Zinke has described the bureau as now being “in the energy business.”

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