In what looks like another “sue and settle” deal, the Biden-Harris Administration has agreed with an anti-fossil energy litigant in a lawsuit that will eventually shut down the largest coal basin in the United States–the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana.
A judge ordered the Department of Interior to consider “no leasing” and limited leasing alternatives in its environmental analysis, and it chose the “no leasing” option. cement filler caulk
Coal production in the low sulfur, subbituminous coal Powder River Basin has been declining since the beginning of the Obama Administration when onerous regulations were placed on coal power plants and when low-cost and abundant natural gas was replacing much of its generation.
The State of Wyoming is suing the government as coal mining is a major part of its economy, and the Trump administration’s energy dominance program may mean that the decision may be revisited.
The Biden-Harris administration is halting new coal leases in the Powder River Basin, ensuring that the U.S. will cease coal production there after 2041. The Powder River Basin, located in northeast Wyoming and parts of southeast Montana, is the largest coal mining area in the country. It produces subbituminous coal, prized for its low sulfur content, which is primarily used in power generation. The region is responsible for supplying 40% of the nation’s thermal coal. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), under the Biden-Harris administration, has decided not to offer new coal mining leases on federally managed lands in the Basin. This move will prevent the extraction of 48.12 billion short tons of coal across 413,250 acres in the region.
Following a federal lawsuit (Western Organization of Resource Councils et al. v. Bureau of Land Management), a court ordered the BLM to revisit its environmental review and consider alternatives such as no-leasing or limited leasing options. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Biden-Harris BLM concluded that “additional leasing of BLM-managed coal is not necessary” after conducting an analysis outlined in the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. This assessment found that the existing coal reserves from currently operating mines in the Basin are sufficient to meet production demands until 2041.
Wyoming’s Governor Mark Gordon plans to fight the decision in court. Gordon believes the decision is political as Congress has directed federal lands under BLM to be managed for multiple uses, including the production of coal and jobs in states with large federal land ownership. The BLM, however, under the Biden-Harris administration, updated its approach to land management, recognizing conservation now “as an essential component of public lands management, on equal footing with other multiple uses of these lands.” Wyoming has spent $800,000 on a retainer for a law firm, Consovoy McCarthy, who has argued multiple appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court. And, according to Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, the federal government has overstepped its powers to regulate energy policies. Wyoming is participating in 58 legal actions designed to push back on federal overreach to curtail or end the state’s right to mine and produce energy. The BLM’s decision is consistent with Biden’s campaign promise in 2020 to “end fossil fuels.”
Wyoming’s coal production has been steadily declining, largely due to increasing competition from natural gas and the impact of stringent regulations introduced by both the Obama and Biden administrations. For the first time since 1992, the Powder River Basin is projected to produce fewer than 200 million tons of coal. The region’s coal output once surged following the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, which imposed limits on sulfur dioxide emissions, making Wyoming coal attractive due to its low sulfur content. Between 2006 and 2011, the Powder River Basin consistently produced over 400 million tons of coal annually, peaking at 446.5 million tons in 2008.
However, by 2023, production had fallen to 230.5 million tons, a significant decrease from nearly 382 million tons in 2014—representing a 40% drop. In the first half of 2024, a mild winter, combined with large coal stockpiles at power plants, contributed to a further decline of more than 20% in production. Despite these declines, by July 2024, the region had still mined a total of 9 billion tons of coal over the past 25 years.
The Biden-Harris administration is accelerating the closure of coal plants by imposing stringent regulations that are seen as financially unfeasible. This spring, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new rule targeting carbon emissions from coal and natural gas plants, which together supply around 60% of the United States’ electricity. These plants provide reliable power to the grid and serve as backup for intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar. The new rule mandates that existing coal plants and new natural gas plants must adopt a carbon capture technology that is neither commercially viable nor economically practical to cut carbon dioxide emissions—or face shutdown. By 2032, coal plants will be required to capture 90% of their carbon dioxide emissions, but the technology needed for this, known as carbon capture and sequestration, is still in the experimental stage and has not been proven at scale.
The shift would require utilities to invest enormous amounts of capital in a process that could make coal power prohibitively expensive—or they could opt to close their plants, aligning with the goals of anti-fossil fuel advocates. In addition to the power plant rule, the EPA is also finalizing regulations aimed at curbing toxic wastewater discharges from coal plants, tightening rules on coal ash disposal, and limiting mercury and other harmful pollutants released during coal combustion. These measures are part of President Biden’s broader agenda to phase out fossil fuels in the United States, even as those fuels continue to account for the majority of the country’s energy supply.
The Wyoming economy is dependent on revenues received from its coal industry—both directly from royalties and taxes and indirectly from the benefits coal mining brings to the state. The federal government owns nearly 50% of the land in the state, so what it does with those lands affects the state’s economy. With electricity demand skyrocketing from AI data centers and Biden-Harris regulations and policies supporting the electrification of almost everything, reliable sources of generation are needed for the U.S. economy as well. President-elect Trump will try to overturn the onerous regulations and policies of the Biden-Harris administration, but many will take time to reverse, and others will be litigated by environmental groups that brought “sue and settle” decisions upon the Biden-Harris administration, which was an easy way for the administration to please environmental groups and donors.
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