Biden administration proposes rule that would end new coal leases in Wyoming

The Interior Department is proposing a plan on coal leases that would impact over a dozen active coal mines in a region known as the Powder River Basin, which straddles northeast Wyoming and part of Montana.

Wyoming currently produces about 50% of the nation’s thermal coal, which is used in electricity generation. The plan would ban new coal leases in a 1.2 million-acre area and put 48 billion tons of federal coal off limits for mining.

“Joe Biden’s war on the West continues, this time by enacting an RMP [Resource Management Plan] that will destroy the Wyoming coal industry,” Wyoming GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman said in a statement.

The Bureau of Land Management estimates that, with existing coal leases, a Montana mine would maintain current production until 2035 and the other Montana mine would last until 2060 under its current leases. A dozen Wyoming mines would operate through 2041 under their current leases.