The federal government has blocked new coal mining on federal lands and underground mineral reserves in the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the United States.
Notice of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) decision to end new coal leases in an area spanning northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana was published in the Federal Register on Nov. 27.
The move was formalized in a Record of Decision signed by Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning on Nov. 20. It went into effect immediately.
The decision blocks off about 413,250 acres of land to new coal leasing and makes 48.12 billion short tons of coal unavailable for consideration, as part of the federal government’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a 2019 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 16 mines in the area produce more than 40 percent of the nation’s total coal….