In a significant move to reduce fossil fuel extraction, the Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will halt new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, a region responsible for nearly half of the United States’ coal production. This decision has been celebrated by climate activists who have long urged the Interior Department to cease coal mining leases on public lands. The cessation could prevent billions of tons of coal from being extracted across more than 13 million acres in Montana and Wyoming, posing substantial implications for U.S. climate goals. Federal lands and waters are significant sources of the nation’s fossil fuels, and their extraction and combustion accounted for nearly a quarter of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions between 2005 and 2014, as per a U.S. Geological Survey study.
The Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a final environmental impact statement on Thursday, highlighting the detrimental effects of continued coal leasing in the Powder River Basin on the climate and public health. The BLM concluded that no future coal leasing should occur in the basin and projected that coal mining in Wyoming’s portion would end by 2041. The Powder River Basin produced 251.9 million tons of coal last year, making up almost 44 percent of all U.S. coal production. Although the 14 active coal mines in the basin can continue operations on currently leased lands, they are barred from expanding onto additional public lands. Climate advocates, who have fought to restore an Obama-era moratorium on coal mining on federal lands, praised this decision.
“This means that billions of tons of coal won’t be burned, compared to business as usual,” said Shiloh Hernandez, a senior attorney at the environmental law firm Earthjustice. “It’s good news, and it’s really the only defensible decision the BLM could have made, given the current climate crisis.”
However, the decision has angered Republican lawmakers from Montana and Wyoming, who accused President Biden of attacking the coal industry. “President Biden continues to wage war on Wyoming’s coal communities and families,” stated Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “This will kill jobs and could cost Wyoming hundreds of millions of dollars used to pay for public schools, roads, and other essential services in our communities.”
Mining groups also expressed their frustration, arguing that the nation needs more fossil fuels to meet rising energy demands driven by electricity-hungry data centers and manufacturing facilities. Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said, “At a time of deteriorating grid reliability, soaring electricity demand and ongoing concern about global energy shocks, proposing a plan of no new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin is outrageous. This damages American energy security and affordability and is a severe economic blow to mining states and communities.”
Despite the transition away from coal due to economic competition from cheaper gas and renewable energy, U.S. coal output declined by 36 percent from 2015 to 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. The Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign notes that 382 coal-fired power plants have either closed or proposed retirement, with 148 remaining. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency has introduced rules to significantly reduce emissions from power plants, pushing existing coal plants to either close or capture 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2039.
Tom Sanzillo, director of financial analysis at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, noted, “The nation’s electricity generation needs are being met increasingly by wind, solar and natural gas. The nation doesn’t need any increase in the amount of coal under lease out of the Powder River Basin.” He added that the decision reflects a “proper market response to the long-term deteriorating position of coal.”
While most Powder River Basin coal is used domestically, a portion is exported, with Wyoming and Montana shipping significant amounts overseas in 2012. President Obama initially froze coal leasing on federal lands in 2016, a move reversed by President Trump in 2017. A 2022 federal court order required the BLM to pause new coal leases, citing insufficient environmental impact studies under the Trump administration.
Trump, who once championed “beautiful, clean coal,” has shifted his 2024 campaign focus to reversing Biden’s policies on oil and gas. At a recent fundraiser in Kentucky, Trump solicited support from coal industry leaders and pledged to lift restrictions on fossil fuel permits if re-elected.