A haul truck is seen after being loaded with coal by a mechanized shovel at the Spring Creek mine, in this Nov. 15, 2016 photo, near Decker, Mont. | Matthew Brown
This past Monday, the largest lease sale for coal by the federal government in over a decade received only one bid. As a result, another coal sale in Wyoming was postponed until further notice.
The single bid was made by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company — a Native American-owned business that has coal mines in Arizona, Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico, as well as helium and lithium mines across the Southwest — for a lease in Montana’s Powder River Basin.
That translates to less than one cent offered per ton of coal. For context, the last bid in the region accepted was for $1.10 per ton in 2012.
An Interior Department spokesperson told the Wyoming-based news organization WyoFile that “while we would have liked to see stronger participation, this sale reflects the lingering impact from Obama’s and Biden’s decades-long war on coal which aggressively sought to end all domestic coal production and erode confidence in the U.S. coal industry.”
Adding that, “Fortunately, President Trump and his administration are rebuilding trust between industry and government as part of our broader effort to restore American energy dominance.”
Whether or not the federal government will accept the offer is not yet determined.
The majority of federal workers are not currently working due to the shutdown, but the Interior Department deemed those working on oil and gas leases as “essential,” so there is potential for updates soon.
But those sales are a representation of the Trump Administration’s concerted effort to push natural resource extraction, with a specific emphasis on coal mining.
The tepid response from the private sector, however, might be an indication of flagging interest in coal and its diminished value.
An Associated Press investigation revealed that most of the power plants served by the mines near Powder River Basin lease sale intend to stop burning coal within the next 10 years.
No new coal plant has been built in the U.S. since 2013, and in a study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, 23 coal power plants are scheduled to close or be converted to other power sources. In the following five years, the authors wrote, another 109 coal plants are set to be shut down.
Nearly 25% of all coal plants that remain are expected to close by 2029.
Coal prices, too, have decreased steadily since a high in 2022, with, according to the International Energy Agency, drops across all major indexes over the past 12 months.
Of course, such a tepid response to the lease sale might just be due to other economic or location related factors. For example, even if nearby plants are phasing out coal burning, the deposits are next to mines already owned by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company.
Regardless, coal remains a major part of America’s energy production, responsible for more than 16% of the country’s total output, employing approximately 40,000 people.
It’s an industry that is still receiving federal funding, too. Last month, the Department of Energy announced a $625 million investment “to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal industry,” that is directed toward supporting coal infrastructure costs.
In April, Trump signed an executive order titled “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241” that made it “national policy to support the coal industry,” to identify places where coal development is impeded by regulations or precedent and then “enable the mining of such coal resources by either private or public actors.”
That order was in addition to another order called “Unleashing American Energy,” which emphasizes the administration’s broader push to foster greater national energy production.
While the region is industrious, it has also been beleaguered by complicated legal debates over whether it should be mined at all. Coal is abundant and inexpensive compared to other energy sources, but is also known for having a negative impact on the environment.
The Biden administration blocked all mining in the region and the resource management plan confirmed last year for those Bureau of Land Management tracts is currently under review. And it’s not only the BLM that could amend the plan. Congress has weighed in and is attempting to use the Congressional Review Act to strip the plan of its authority and any potential to be reinstituted.
In that vein, the Interior has pushed forward with several coal leases in the last month.
There was one in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, in September, another in Emery, Utah, last week, and one more happening this week in Wyoming.
“Coal has long been the backbone of America’s energy and industrial strength,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement last month.
“By moving forward with these lease sales, we are creating good-paying jobs, supporting local communities, and securing the resources that keep America strong. President Trump’s leadership is putting American workers first and ensuring our nation’s energy future is built on reliable, homegrown resources.”
