Wyoming commits more than a million in coal litigation

CASPER (WNE) — Wyoming has now committed more than $1 million to fight the feds over coal.

Gov. Mark Gordon on Wednesday allocated $300,000 to the Wyoming Energy Authority to support coal-related legal challenges against the federal government, which comes on the heels of an $800,000 commitment to the Attorney General’s office to support similar efforts on a different front.

The money comes from the state’s Coal Litigation Fund created by the legislature in 2021 as a resource to litigiously combat federal emissions clampdowns that put coal, the most emissions-heavy form of fossil energy, against the ropes.

The Energy Authority has selected a powerhouse in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, a firm with over 300 attorneys, including former U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, as well as legislative consultants in 12 offices across the western U.S. and Washington, D.C.

“Wyoming is marshaling all available resources to fight the Biden Administration’s ongoing attack on our coal industry, our workers, and ultimately our communities,” Gordon said.

Brownstein now rolls up its sleeves for battles that could determine the retirement timelines of coal-fired electric generation facilities in Wyoming, as well as the longevity of the export market for Cowboy State coal.

On a different front, the AG’s office will deploy its $800,000 in coal litigation funds in a contract with Consovoy McCarthy, a boutique law firm with expertise in federal administrative law.

That effort will focus on blocking the Bureau of Land Management’s Buffalo Field Office Resource Management Plan, whose preferred alternative would officially end all new coal leases on federal land in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the most prolific coal region in the nation.

This story was published on July 22, 2024.