Trump admin looks to restore Powder River Basin coal leasing
BUFFALO — The Powder River Basin is grabbing headlines after President Donald Trump’s Department of Interior announced it would reverse a Biden administration moratorium on new coal leases in the region.
A notice published in the Federal Register says the Bureau of Land Management will prepare an amendment to the Buffalo Field Office’s resource management plan and an environmental assessment that will evaluate coal leasing potential in the Powder River Basin, which is the largest coal deposit in the country per U.S. Geological Survey data.
Coal is currently mined primarily outside of Gillette, though the notice indicates that the agency could identify areas suitable for future coal leasing.
The notice opens a public comment period through Aug. 7.
The BLM was sued by conservation groups over its Buffalo and Miles City, Montana, field office resource management plans during Trump’s first term. A federal judge agreed with the organizations that the plans failed to address public health impacts of coal production and adequately consider alternatives that would limit or end new coal leasing.
As a result, the Biden administration published an amendment to the local office’s plan that would eventually end coal leasing in the basin.
The moratorium on coal leasing, published in an amendment to the plan last year, was unpopular among local and state leaders, according to previous Bulletin reporting. Johnson County Commission Chairman Bill Novotny penned a formal protest letter, alongside Campbell and Converse county leaders, citing the potential loss of jobs and mineral royalty revenue in the region and state.
Johnson County does have deep coal seams, though those resources are more difficult to recover than those in Campbell or Converse counties due to local geological formations, the protest noted.
In a news release announcing the beginning of the agency’s current scoping process, the BLM noted that the new amendment is in response to Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order that, in part, asked agencies to review existing policies and actions that hinder potential fossil fuel development.
The State of Wyoming sued the Biden administration last December over the moratorium. The lawsuit argued that the BLM failed to consider the state’s perspective in its decision making in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.
In response to Trump’s most recent amendment and likely restoration of coal leasing in the region, Gov. Mark Gordon issued a statement commending Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
“Early on, I spoke with them both and explained Wyoming’s frustration that the very industries that built our schools and powered our economy were being ignored and directly harmed by an ideologically motivated, anti-fossil fuel agenda,” Gordon said in a statement. “We know coal plays a critical role for Wyoming and in America’s efforts to achieve energy dominance. The restrictions in the previous Buffalo Coal RMP amendment were legally dubious, arbitrary, and would result in less reliable energy. I support every effort to right this ship.”
Conservation groups, on the other hand, have so far denounced the action, having been in support of the Biden administration’s leasing moratorium.
Lynne Huskinson, board member of Western Organization of Resource Councils – the local Powder River Basin Resource Council — is a member and a retired Campbell County coal miner. She said in a statement that most coal plants cost more to run and that “communities in Wyoming and Montana have hardly begun to recover from the decades of water and air pollution we suffered as a result of coal mining.”
“These amendments will only exacerbate the damage and leave communities suffering even more,” she said in a statement.
She also noted that coal mining no longer makes financial sense and is not the affordable source of energy it once was.
“Ninety-nine percent of coal plants cost more to run than those running on renewable energy, and 93% of new US electricity comes from solar, wind, or batteries,” Huskinson said.
The alternatives outlined in the NEPA process for the amendment include issuing no new leases, as approved by the Biden administration, or making 481,000 acres of coal leasing available, which is consistent with the 2019 resource management plan.
Those who submit a public comment can address the preliminary alternatives or suggest additional alternatives, the notice says.
Comments can be submitted by mail to the BLM Buffalo Field Office or online at https://www. federalregister.gov/d/202512672/
This story was published on July 24, 2025.