Government Signals Plan to Reopen Powder River Basin to Coal Development

What happened: The Trump administration has started the process of reopening Wyoming and Eastern Montana’s Powder River Basin to new coal leasing.

Why it matters: The Powder River Basin is the largest coal-producing region in the United States — but its production has been declining for years. Recent data show that clean energy sources have become more affordable than coal, and in 2024 wind and solar surpassed coal power in the U.S. for the first time.

In 2024, citing the dwindling demand for coal and the growing climate crisis, the Interior Department halted new leasing in the region. This month’s reversal flipflops on the government’s own analysis, just to prop up the dying coal industry.

For decades, Earthjustice has fought in court to end the leasing of public lands for fossil fuels — including defending the Biden administration’s 2024 policy to secure a coal-free future in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. The longer the coal industry hangs on, the more harm it does to nearby communities — destroying our land, water, and clean air, and jeopardizing our future. We’ve fought too hard to leave coal in the past to let Trump drag us backward.

Why the government pulled the plug on coal in the first place

• The writing on the wall: In 2022, a judge ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)to review its land management plan for the Powder River Basin in response to challenges from conservation groups represented by Earthjustice. The Bureau’s 2024 decision to ultimately end new coal leasing followed numerous company bankruptcies and coal mine closures in the region due to declining demand.
• Phasing out new coal: Mining companies were still allowed to mine coal on federal leases that have already been issued in the Powder River Basin, but they could not contract new leases on federally owned land.
• Defending the BLM’s decision: In a last-ditch effort to revive the struggling coal industry, the states of Montana and Wyoming sued to block the BLM’s decision. Earthjustice intervened on behalf of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, alongside tribal and conservation groups, to defend the Biden administration’s decision earlier this year. That case is still pending.

Trump and congressional Republicans are propping up a dying industry

• Part of a massive coal giveaway: Early this month, Republicans passed — and President Trump signed into law — the biggest coal giveaway in history, in the form of a budget bill that slashes coal royalty rates, offers millions of acres of public land for expanded coal mining, and mandates mine permit approvals.
• Now, the administration is pursuing yet another unwarranted coal giveaway in this new move to reopen the Powder River Basin for coal leasing. Separately, Montana Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill to reopen the region through congressional action.
• A concerning trend:Since coming into office, Trump has invoked a false “energy emergency” to illegally fast-track the approval of fossil fuel and mining development with no consideration of environmental, health, or climate impacts.
• Economic opportunity losses: Despite wind and solar power’s clear market dominance over coal, the bill also cuts hundreds of clean energy investments and popular, job-creating clean energy tax credits.

The consequences of coal mining

• Climate impacts: With coal accounting for nearly 60% of CO₂ emissions from the energy sector, mining coal is clearly incompatible with the urgent action needed to fight climate change.
• Environmental and health impacts: Coal mines and power plants destroy vital water sources and poison our air with toxic chemicals including arsenic, mercury, and lead. These chemicals released by coal plants are linked to increased risk of cancer, neurological damage, reproductive harm, and heart disease.
• Frontline communities: Some ranching and Tribal communities in the Powder River Basin, including the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, have spoken out for decades against the harms of coal mining in the region. Coal mining threatens their air, water, and health.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management that the U.S. doesn’t need more coal.

• Handouts for the wealthy: This reversal of policy is not about helping Americans, or some fake energy emergency; it is about appeasing wealthy coal executives who helped put Trump into power.
• Earthjustice will continue to fight Trump’s shortsighted efforts to prioritize corporate profits over protections for the air we breathe and the water we drink.
• What you can do: There is a 30-day comment period underway where the public can oppose the government’s new policy. Now is the time to get loud about protecting our planet and leaving dirty coal in the past.