On Friday, President Obama gave climate change activists a small, but potentially game changing victory. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will temporarily cease giving out permits to new coal mining leases on federal land. This pause will take place while the federal government s coal program is brought under review. It has been about thirty years since major changes were made to the program. How do we manage the program that is consistent with our climate change objective? There is no short answer,  Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said during a news conference.  It is also clear that we need to take into account the science we have now on the environment and climate change. There is no certainty to how long this leasing pause lasts. Reuters reports that it could last as long as three years. This is not good news to the coal industry, which has been in substantial decline for the past few years. Due to a combination of regulations, and competition from other fuel sources, such as natural gas and the massive cost decrease in solar, and the hard work of climate activists, big coal has been forced to survive by exporting coal. We have an obligation to current and future generations to ensure the federal coal program delivers a fair return to American taxpayers and takes into account its impacts on climate change,  Jewell said.What does this mean for the climate? According to Climate Central, this is big deal. They report that: About 40 percent of all the coal produced in the U.S. comes from mines on federal public lands, mainly in the West. As of the end of 2014, there were 308 active coal mining leases on more than 464,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Montana and Colorado, with an additional 10,500 acres in Kentucky, Alabama and West Virginia.Burning coal and other fossil fuels for electricity is the largest single source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, accounting for about 31 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gases. Now of course, without congressional action, an incoming President could end this pause. But a Republican victory seems unlikely, and the Democratic candidates do not have a lot of love for big coal. Bernie Sanders has pledged to halt all new federal leases for fossil fuel mega projects. Sanders could do this without the need of approval from Congress. A move like that would be a giant victory for the planet and all the people who live in it.Featured Image Credit: By The Official White House Photostream (P060809PS-0350) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons