From the Paris climate agreement to recent proposals to limit pollution from oil and gas wells, President Barack Obama has made combating climate change a focal point of his final year in office. But at least one agency within his administration is actively pushing policies that undercut these efforts.

The U.S. Forest Service is tasked with protecting 190 million acres of land throughout the country, including high alpine meadows, towering spruce and stately ponderosa pines. It has a clear legal mandate to protect forest resources, as well as to “protect and, where appropriate, improve the quality of soil, water, and air resources.” So it might come as surprise to learn that instead of working to limit greenhouse gas pollution, it’s pursuing policies that actually exacerbate climate change — notably the impending approval of a huge coal mining expansion in remote Colorado wildlands.

There’s no question climate change threatens forests, watersheds and wildlife: It dries woodlands, weakens trees so they are more susceptible to insects and disease, and lengthens the fire season. The fire season in the United States and elsewhere is starting earlier and lasting longer, and fires are burning with more intensity. Those fires can damage ecosystems and drain agency budgets; […]