WORC members push back as Trump administration moves to reopen coal leasing in the Powder River Basin

Despite energy markets rapidly moving toward cleaner, cheaper sources, the Trump administration is steering in the opposite direction.

On April 8th, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at expanding coal leasing on public land and minerals. The EO directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to prioritize coal leasing as the primary land use for public lands with coal resources identified in them. In response to the EO, the BLM announced their plan to reopen federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in eastern Montana and Wyoming – the largest coal-producing region in the United States– by undergoing the amendment process to the Buffalo and Miles City resource management plans.

This move has drawn sharp criticism from WORC members, who point out that coal’s dominance has long since passed. “Like his recent tariffs, the executive order that President Trump signed today presumes Americans are living in the distant past,” said Dr. Barbara Vasquez, WORC’s Board Chair, on the day of the signing.

Coal now accounts for just 15% of U.S. electricity—less than wind and solar, which together supply 17%. The market for renewables is growing rapidly. Nearly all U.S. coal plants are more expensive to operate than renewable alternatives, and 93% of new electricity capacity is coming from solar, wind, and batteries. “It makes no economic, financial, or market sense and is simply a gift to corporate polluters that rural communities will have to pay for through higher electric bills, worsened air quality, and toxic pollution of public lands and waters,” Vasquez said.

WORC’s legal wins led the BLM to end coal leasing in the PRB

The Powder River Basin has been at the center of a legal and environmental battle for years.

In 2022, in response to a challenge from conservation groups, including Western Organization of Resource Councils, a federal judge found that the two resource management plans failed to address the public health consequences of allowing massive amounts of coal, oil, and gas production from public lands and minerals in the Powder River Basin over 20 years. The court ordered BLM to redo its environmental analysis.

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In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris found that BLM failed to comply with a previous court order directing the agency to account for the environmental and human health impacts of burning publicly owned coal. The judge also held that BLM failed to consider alternatives that would limit or end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

In 2024 under the Biden Administration, the BLM released a final supplemental environmental impact statement for two Powder River Basin resource management plans, Buffalo and Miles City, finding that there would be significant impacts to our climate, human health, and the environment from continuing to lease the region’s approximately 6 billion tons of low-grade, highly polluting coal. BLM selected a “no future coal leasing alternative,” through which existing mines can develop already-leased reserves but cannot expand with publicly-owned coal reserves.

Now, with this executive order, that progress may be rolled back.

At a time when the market is clearly choosing cleaner energy, many in the West are questioning why public lands and public health are once again being sacrificed for an industry in decline.