Laid-off coal workers deserve facts, not political smear tactics

Nineteen equipment operators, mechanics and mine staff got laid off last month from the Black Butte coal mine near Rock Springs. They were told just before Christmas they’d lose their jobs because an obscure federal agency was slow in permitting a mine expansion.

They’re having none of it. Two of those laid-off workers told Cowboy State Daily they “suspect that the real reason the plant is laying off employees is because of mismanagement.” One added he “believes the coal mine wouldn’t be ready to implement the expansion it has talked about even if it got the go-ahead from the DOI.”

It’s truly tragic when hardworking Wyomingites lose their well-paying jobs, especially during the holiday season, and especially when being fed a line by the mine manager. Truth is, these layoffs are just the latest at Wyoming mines struggling to adapt to the reality that market demand for coal is rapidly shrinking. So, wouldn’t we expect our politicians to redouble their efforts — to date scarce to non-existent — to educate and prepare all of Wyoming for the ongoing decline of coal markets and coal jobs? 

Well, no. Gov. Mark Gordon is at it again: placing blame on the federal government that actually lays at the state’s feet for failing to face the fact that energy markets are shifting away from coal and failing to prepare our economy for a different future. 

The governor echoed mine manager Steve Gili almost verbatim, nonsensically blaming the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement for the layoffs, claiming that a delayed federal permit caused the job losses. If you’ve never heard of OSMRE, you’re not alone — it’s a tiny federal agency that mostly works quietly, rarely makes headlines and has never been blamed for causing the thousands of nationwide coal layoffs in the last decade.

Rather than attacking OSMRE, the governor should embrace the agency’s role in overseeing Wyoming’s regulation of mining and reclamation, especially of our publicly-owned coal. OSMRE plays a critical role in guiding the mining of federal coal, ensuring the reclamation of mined lands, and facilitating a just and equitable transition for coal regions as power plants are retired and demand for coal shrinks. Federal law requires it play a key role in evaluating current mining activities before approving new mining. It evaluates mining’s effect on multiple uses of public land, what water supplies are being affected, what lands have been restored and released from bond, and other things critical to the reclamation and restoration of Federal coal lands. OSMRE also considers past histories of operators, helping mitigate the impacts of mines abandoned in company bankruptcies.

Ironically, if any environmental regulator should be blamed for the Black Butte layoffs it is Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality. As embarrassing as it may be for the governor to admit, his own DEQ pushed the mine’s utility customer — the Jim Bridger coal plant — to convert half its coal units to natural gas, leading to a decline in coal demand from the Black Butte mine. Less coal means fewer jobs, pure and simple. 

But really, no government agency — state or federal — is to blame here. Instead of whining about mine regulators, the governor would better focus his energy on developing an honest and effective economic transition plan to address how jobs and revenue can be replaced as coal continues to decline. We can’t reverse market trends, but we can be prepared. Blaming OSMRE — or, more ridiculously, President Biden — only provides another distraction as Wyoming politicians continue to whistle past the graveyard, averting our attention from planning for our future — a new lower-carbon economy that is coming whether we like it or not.