The Trump administration this week expedited approval of a southwest Wyoming coal mine’s expansion.
The Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement completed its environmental review for the Black Butte coal mine plan in under 30 days, according to the Interior Department. Typically, a federal environmental review, which includes volumes of documents regarding environmental, socioeconomic and health impacts — along with public input — takes at least a couple of years.
The updated plan essentially allows for continued production at the mine that has been scooping coal east of Rock Springs since the late 1970s. It gives the mine access to an additional 9.2 million tons of federal coal — enough to maintain mining through 2039, according to federal documents.
“This is great news for southwest Wyoming and for Wyoming energy consumers,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a prepared statement.
Gordon blamed the Biden administration for delaying the mine’s expansion, claiming the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement continually added “paper obstacles” to the review process.
“If this way of doing things becomes normalized, then you can basically justify doing anything on public lands.”
Emma Jones, Sierra Club, Wyoming chapter
“After the Biden Administration ignored my earlier requests to move forward with this approval, it is most gratifying that [Interior] Secretary [Doug] Burgum took action and expedited the review of the Environmental Impact Statement on the Black Butte Mine Expansion,” Gordon said. “Once more the Trump administration is demonstrating its commitment to a wise, multiple-use approach to public lands and minerals in Wyoming.”
Interior officials noted that the push to approve the Black Butte mine expansion was under the direction of President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American Energy and Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry executive orders — the same push to advance a 440 million ton coal lease and a 14.5 million ton expansion at the Antelope mine in northeast Wyoming.
Some conservation groups say the administration is moving too quickly to fully analyze environmental and human health impacts, or to allow for thorough public input on such federal coal actions.
“The government is not doing their due diligence to actually examine the impact this might have on public lands,” Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter Climate and Energy Organizer Emma Jones told WyoFile. “They don’t know what the impact is, really. If this way of doing things becomes normalized, then you can basically justify doing anything on public lands.”
The Trump administration has retooled implementation of federal leasing and permitting actions under the National Environmental Policy Act, speeding up the process as part of Trump’s declaration of a National Energy Emergency. Though energy — particularly electricity — demand in the U.S. is skyrocketing, it’s unclear whether such federal actions will help pull the U.S. coal industry out of its severe 10-year decline, conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, say.
“It’s unclear who is going to buy this coal,” Jones said, regarding the Black Butte mine.
The nearby Jim Bridger coal-fired power plant has served as the Black Butte mine’s primary customer for decades. Sierra Club and others have speculated whether the power plant’s owner, utility giant PacifiCorp, will continue to rely on the mine as it has in the past. The company recently converted two of four coal-burning units at Jim Bridger to natural gas.
Black Butte employs about 56 miners, according to federal data. The workforce there suffered two layoffs in recent years, most recently in the summer of 2024.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct that the Black Butte coal mine is east of Rock Springs. —Ed.
This is but one small example of what I expect we will see over the next 3 1/2 years. Just wait until we see the results of a potential rescindment of the 2001 USFS Roadless Rule.
Do they have anyone to buy all this coal? Bridger has 2 gas units so it doesn’t seem like that big of a customer anymore.
Other countries, perhaps?
there is a california state supreme court ruling due october 1st.
the port of oakland is being developed to accept coal for export.
this is a huge development for wyoming coal to be exported to asian countries.
could be just what the coal producers in wyoming have been waiting a long time for.