Trump pushes to resume coal leasing in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin
FROM WYOFILE:
The Bureau of Land Management will amend Biden-era resource management plans to reopen coal leasing in Wyoming and Montana.
Federal officials are undoing a Biden-era rule that ended new coal leasing in the prolific Powder River Basin spanning northeast Wyoming and southern Montana.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, at the direction of President Donald Trump, will file a notice this week to amend its resource management plans for the region to reopen federal coal leasing — just six months after the Biden leasing ban was finalized. The public will have 30 days to review and comment on the proposed action, setting a deadline of Aug. 7.
The agency on Monday reiterated the action complies with multiple Trump executive orders, including Unleashing American Energy and Declaring a National Energy Emergency.
“The BLM does not intend to hold any public meetings, in-person or virtual, during the public scoping period,” according to a preliminary notice published Monday in the Federal Registry.
What does it mean?
Though the BLM’s Buffalo and Miles City, Montana field offices had identified vast areas in the region it would consider for new leasing, coal companies here hadn’t nominated a major new coal lease in more than 10 years, which, in part, prompted the agency under Biden to initiate ending the leasing program, officials said at the time.
In justifying the lease ban, the Biden BLM noted that it did not apply to existing leases, which still include enough Powder River Basin coal reserves to maintain current production levels until about 2040, it said.
Aside from the stark swing in coal politics from Biden to Trump, speculation has been mounting over the past year about whether skyrocketing demand for electricity might entice Powder River Basin coal producers to finally nominate new major leases. That hasn’t been the case, so far. But both Congress and the Wyoming Legislature have been trying to further entice them.
Wyoming lawmakers earlier this year passed House Bill 75, “Coal severance tax rate,” which reduces the severance tax for surface-mined coal from 6.5% to 6%. The congressional budget reconciliation bill — One Big Beautiful Bill Act — signed into law Friday, reduces the federal royalty rate on coal from 12.5% to 7% through 2034, which will make “the coal royalty structure more representative of today’s market and mining conditions and helps get the industry closer to a level playing field among energy commodities,” the Wyoming Energy Authority said in a statement.
Those tax reductions, along with a slew of Trump administration measures to slash regulations on both the coal-mining and coal-burning sides of the equation are intended to finally make good on Trump’s promise during his first administration to revitalize the industry.
Critics have referred to the Trump and congressional actions as the “biggest coal giveaway in history.”
“Just last year, the Bureau of Land Management found it impossible to justify continued coal leasing in the Powder River Basin considering the abundant coal already under lease, shrinking demand, and the imperative to phase out fossil fuel development to address the climate crisis,” Earthjustice Northern Rockies Managing Attorney Jenny Harbine said in a prepared statement Monday. “The administration’s efforts to expand coal mining on our public lands are no more justified now and will sell out our communities to further enrich coal industry executives.”
Coal production in Wyoming, the largest supplier in the nation, has declined by nearly half since its peak in 2008. Though the industry is still shedding hundreds of jobs, output increased slightly during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to Wyoming Public Radio.
How to comment
To review the BLM’s proposed resource management plan amendments, visit the agency’s Miles City Field Office website here and the Buffalo Field Office website here.
To comment, click the “participate now” button.
Comments may also be mailed to:
BLM Buffalo Field Office
1425 Fort St.
Buffalo, WY 82834
For more information, contact Project Manager Tom Bills at tbills@blm.gov or (307) 684-1133.
BLM Miles City Field Office
111 Garryowen Road
Miles City, MT 59301
For more information, contact Project Manager Irma Nansel at inansel@blm.gov or (406) 233-3653.
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
This story was posted on July 7, 2025.