December 13, 2024 |
Photo – Bigfoot file photo
Wyoming and Montana filed suit jointly on Thursday against the Bureau of Land Management over the federal agency’s plan to end coal leasing in the Powder River Basin.
The states argue in legal documents that the BLM’s Buffalo Resource Management Plan Amendment, called an RMPA in federal jargon, is “unreasonable, unjustified and unsupported” by federal law.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon struck a blunt tone in his public statement about the matter. “Instead of working with the states to address their concerns, BLM pushed through their narrow-minded agenda to stop using coal, ignoring the multiple-use mandate and the economic impacts of this decision, including skyrocketing electricity bills for consumers. They did not do their job properly,” the governor said.
In court documents, Wyoming and Montana argue that the BLM’s action marks a total shift in the agency’s treatment of coal leasing under Director Tracy Stone-Manning.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration proposed an end to future coal leasing on federal lands in Montana and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, citing climate change concerns. Then the federal lands agency under Stone-Manning released a proposal to ban new coal leases on more than 413-thousand acres of land in the Powder River Basin. The Bureau’s decision puts more than 48-billion short tons of coal off limits.
In response to the decision, Governor Gordon blasted the Biden administration and committed to overturning the decision in the courts.
