Wyoming Congress members urge DOI to rescind plan that would hurt coal leasing

The Congressional delegation from Wyoming is urging the Department of Interior to rescind its recent update to the Buffalo Field Office Resource Management Plan.

The delegation — including U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) — said the update to the Buffalo Field Office plan would essentially kill future coal leasing in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

“BLM’s (Bureau of Land Management’s) proposed amendment would have a severe impact on Wyoming. Revenue from federal coal leases funds K-12 public education, infrastructure, and other essential services. BLM’s own analysis acknowledges that ending coal leasing jeopardizes thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. Eliminating these jobs and revenue would have a devastating effect on the people, families, and communities of Wyoming,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Wyoming leads the nation in coal production, the lawmakers said, as roughly 40 percent of all coal mined in the United States comes from Wyoming. Most of the coal is produced on federal lands in the Powder River Basin (PRB), and that coal is shipped to 27 states. It is critical to maintaining reliable electric service to tens of millions of Americans.

The bureau’s proposed amendment would prevent future coal leasing and block access to 48 billion short tons of coal in Wyoming.

“The proposed amendment directly violates the multiple use mandate that Congress gave BLM in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The Act requires the BLM to manage federal lands in a way that “recognizes the Nation’s needs for domestic sources of minerals,” the letter said.

They added that the proposed amendment would also put electric reliability at risk and have a severe economic impact on Wyoming.

“Revenue from federal coal leases funds K-12 public education, infrastructure, and other essential services. BLM’s own analysis acknowledges that ending coal leasing jeopardizes thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. Eliminating these jobs and revenue would have a devastating effect on the people, families, and communities of Wyoming. We, therefore, urge you, in the strongest terms, to withdraw BLM’s proposed amendment to the Buffalo RMP,” the Wyoming lawmakers concluded.

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