U.S. coal producers are staggering under Environmental Protection Agency regulations and low natural gas prices. Now the Obama Administration is giving the industry its last rites by halting new coal leases on federal lands where mining is still profitable.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has declared a three-year moratorium on coal leases pending an agency review to “ensure the federal coal program delivers a fair return to American taxpayers and takes into account its impacts on climate change.” Interior may raise coal’s...