The Administration’s Fixation on Coal Makes No Sense

With no market demand for coal, why does the BLM want to resume leasing in the Powder River Basin?

by Lynne Huskinson, WORC board member

The Trump administration has been fixated on resuscitating the coal industry, long in steep decline. That explains why the Bureau of Land Management is now eager to resume leasing of publicly-owned coal in the Powder River Basin, which stretches across northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. Never mind there is enough coal already under lease to flood the market for at least the next 15 years.

I live in the Powder River Basin and am a retired coal miner. I have seen aquifers destroyed, air polluted, and the health of our neighbors and communities harmed by decades of mining in the basin. That’s why I supported the BLM last year when it finalized amendments to the Buffalo (Wyoming) and Miles City (Montana) resource management plans (RMPs) that acknowledged market realities by eliminating future federal leasing in the Powder River Basin, but not interfering with mining coal already leased.

*Lynne Huskinson, retired coal miner and WORC board member*

The BLM under the current administration has begun amending those RMPs to resume coal leasing in the basin. As part of that process, the BLM is accepting public comments on its amendments, which the public has until August 7 to submit. I encourage folks in Wyoming and Montana, or wherever else they may live in the U.S., to join me in submitting comments calling on the BLM to maintain the existing RMPs and not compound and exacerbate the water contamination, air pollution, and resulting illnesses that farmers, ranchers, and communities in the basin and beyond have experienced from decades of intensive coal mining there.

Indeed, all Americans have a stake in this amendment because 40% of the coal burned in the U.S. for electricity comes from the Powder River Basin. The coal is low-grade and highly polluting, accounting for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the country and causing an untold number of Americans to suffer respiratory infections, premature births, fetal brain damage, and cancer.

Coal power is also extremely expensive today. A recent analysis shows that 99% of coal plants are more expensive to run than renewable energy generation facilities, resulting in the fact that a mere 15% of energy generated in the U.S. now comes from coal. That’s less than wind and solar, which now accounts for 17%. In fact, 93% of new US electricity now comes from solar, wind, or batteries. The market has already left coal behind.

It’s no wonder that not a single coal lease sale has occurred in Wyoming since 2012, or that, in 2022, the 12 active surface coal mines on the Wyoming side of the basin produced 400 million tons less than they did in 2008. The dire state of coal markets is what makes the administration’s fixation on the mineral so irrational. Does the administration prefer Americans pay more for electricity so long as it comes from coal?

What makes the administration’s move to reopen leasing in the Powder River Basin all the more unfathomable is that current leaseholders there have enough coal to mine until at least 2035, possibly until 2060. Given the competition from more affordable energy sources, it’s hard to imagine where they will find buyers for their coal. Even harder to imagine is where any future leaseholders might find them.

Keep up to date with grassroots organizing in the West with WORC’s newsletter.

Send me WORC’s newsletter.

Even if there was a demand for coal, what would residents of Wyoming and Montana have to gain from the resumption of leasing in the basin or anywhere else? The answer is: much less than before, because the recently-passed Big Beautiful Bill slashed the royalty rates – from 12.5% to 7% – that companies pay the federal treasury (half of which goes to the states) in return for mining publicly owned coal. Wyoming Public Radio reported that, thanks to the BBB, Wyoming will lose $50 million annually from this 40%-plus reduction in royalties, taking money away from schools, roads, law enforcement, and healthcare.

Rather than propping up a dying industry, this administration should be helping stop the bleeding occurring in communities around the West that are still reeling from the toxic impacts of coal development. That means investing in the reclamation of coal mines and transitioning to clean energy production, something that would create jobs, help rural communities survive, and – unlike coal leasing – meet an actual demand.

Lynne Huskinson is a retired Campbell County Wyoming coal miner, having spent 39 years in the profession, and a board member of Western Organization of Resource Councils. She lives with her family in Gillette.