WYOMING — After the Biden administration finalized rules blocking new federal coal leasing in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB), signed on Nov. 20 by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Tracy Stone-Manning, Governor Mark Gordon has responded that he will work to overturn the ban.
According to the BLM’s Buffalo Field Office Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment, “the decision is to make no federal coal available for future leasing” in this area. This makes 48.12 billion short tons (a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds) of coal unavailable for leasing consideration, in what the BLM confirms is an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.
The BLM says it would not accept new coal lease applications, but existing coal leases can be developed and continue through their associated lease terms.
The University of Wyoming (UW) has written that the PRB and Northeast Wyoming produce about 40% of the nation’s coal, used to generate electricity, and contribute to a substantial portion of Wyoming’s economy. Cowboy State Daily previously reported that the PRB mines employed 4,103 workers at the end of the 2024 first quarter, with more than 46 million tons of coal mined.
“BLM’s decision intentionally ignores both the energy needs of our nation and the devastating economic impacts its decision has on Wyoming and its communities,” Governor Gordon writes in a Nov. 26 statement about overturning the RMP Amendment. “This is not a balanced resource management strategy, but an anti-fossil fuel, politically-motivated action taken before the door slams on this administration.”
But Wyoming Public Radio reports as recently as Monday, Dec. 2, that the use of coal is declining in the U.S. and North America, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms that both U.S. total coal production and PRB coal production peaked in 2008 and have since declined.
According to federal data compiled by the Wyoming State Geological Survey, demand for Wyoming’s coal dropped by 20% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
Governor Gordon still asserts that the State of Wyoming will seek to overturn this leasing ban, including litigation, and writes that he aims to work with the incoming Wyoming Congressional Delegation and the Trump Administration to do so.
