The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved plans blocking new coal leasing of federal property in the Buffalo, Wyoming, and Miles City, Montana, regions, encompassing most of the Powder River basin (PRB).
The agency published records of decision in the Federal Register today.
Producers will be able to operate on existing leases until they expire. BLM estimated earlier this year, when it released proposed amended resource plans for the field offices amendments, that the 12 mines with leases in the Buffalo planning area collectively have enough reserves on federal and privately-owned land to produce coal until the middle of 2041, and about 48bn short tons (43.3bn metric tonnes) of coal reserves would be untouched. Existing leases for the two mines in the Miles City planning area — Navajo Transitional Energy Company's (NTEC) Spring Creek mine and Westmoreland Mining's Rosebud mine — will run out of reserves by the end of 2035 and the end of 2060, respectively, BLM estimated.
About 93pc of PRB coal production in recent years has come from reserves on US-owned property covered in the Buffalo and Miles City resource management plans. Only one PRB mine — Westmoreland's Absaloka mine in Wyoming — does not hold any federal coal leases.
BLM's plans are expected to be challenged in court. Wyoming governor Mark Gordon (R) in June allocated $800,000 for Wyoming attorney general Bridget Hill to challenge BLM's amended Buffalo Resource Management Plan if it were finalized. Wyoming and Montana regulators, as well as NTEC, Westmoreland and the National Mining Association also submitted protests to BLM's plans after they were proposed, but those protests were rebuffed by BLM.
Gordon on 26 November accused BLM of ignoring Wyoming's concerns.
"It is apparent BLM has ramrodded this plan through the federal administrative process, rather than addressing legitimate grassroots issues identified by the state and its counties," Gordon said. "The state of Wyoming will seek every remedy to overturn this decision, including litigation."
Gordon also said he would work with state legislators and the administration of president-elect Donald Trump "to reverse this foolhardy decision."
The office of Montana governor Greg Gianforte (R) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BLM proposed the Buffalo and Miles City resource plan amendments and revised the environmental impact statements for the plans under a 2022 order by the US District Court for the District of Montana, which found that the agency needed to consider the effects of non-greenhouse gas emissions on communities downstream from the Buffalo and Miles City areas in its resource management plans and to include options of no coal leasing and limited coal leasing in its reviews.
