July 17, 2024 |
Photo – Coal mine in Powder River Basin – Courtesy of Fossil Fuel Connection web page
Wyoming’s Congressional Delegation, headed by Senator John Barrasso, has sent a letter Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland asking her to rescind her agency’s plan to kill future coal leasing in the Powder River Basin.
The letter, dated Tuesday, July 16, 2024, states that the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to shut down mining in Wyoming’s coal-rich northwest corner would put reliable electricity in the nation at risk.
The Wyoming delegation cites two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members, James Danley and Mark Christie, who said as recently as last year that the Biden Administration’s rush to shut down baseload coal-fired electric generation is premature and threatens to create a “reliability crisis” in the American energy sector.
The BLM’s proposed amendment to shut down the PRB to coal production, the delegation writes, threatens electric reliability across the country and puts Wyoming’s economy at risk, the delegation writes.
Wyoming leads the nation in coal production. About 40 percent of all coal mined in the United States comes from the Cowboy State. The Powder River Basin exports coal to over half of the country, 27 states in all.
The Congressional Delegation notes that the BLM’s plan to end coal production in the Powder River Basin will hurt K-12 education in Wyoming, eliminate jobs and damage multiple communities. The BLM’s own analysis acknowledges that ending coal leasing will put thousands of jobs in the state at risk and cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
The delegation closed the letter by asking Haaland to withdraw the BLM’s proposed amendment to the Buffalo RMP.
