FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A Senate vote Thursday would restore mining industry access to government-owned coal in the most productive U.S. region, a policy reversal from President Joe Biden that is likely to get President Donald Trump's signature.
The bill for the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming, source of about 40% of the nation's coal, is one of a handful promoting fossil fuels in the Republican-majority Congress. Others seek to open up parts of Alaska, Montana and North Dakota to more drilling and mining.
In the waning months of Biden's presidency, the Interior Department halted federal coal sales to Powder River Basin mines, citing climate change and declining demand from utilities for coal to burn in their power plants. Dozens of coal-fired plants nationwide have been retired or converted to burn gas.
The Biden policy eventually would have all but ended coal mining in the basin, where the federal government owns the vast majority of coal and periodically sells it, keeping mines in operation.
Trump, who often praises coal as “beautiful," has sought to reverse more than a decade of falling production in places including Montana, Wyoming and Appalachia as utilities switch to renewables and gas, which is cheaper to buy and burns with less pollution.
Trump's administration has worked to keep coal-fired power plants running and allow recent federal coal lease sales to proceed on the condition that Congress would reverse the Biden policy.
The bill approved on a 51-43 Senate vote Thursday would not only reverse Biden but prohibit future administrations from halting sales of Powder River Basin coal.
Still, market headwinds for coal remain significant. Recent federal coal auctions in the Powder River Basin and Utah have drawn little interest, either getting either no bids or, in the case of one sale in Montana, a bid too low for the government to accept.
Falling demand has reduced the Powder River Basin's annual coal production from about 400 million to 200 million tons (360 to 180 tonnes) over the past decade, including during Trump's coal-friendly first term, pointed out Seth Feaster with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
“Demand has fallen considerably. It’s not expected to turn around but continue to drop. It appears new leases are not what the industry really needs,” Feaster said Thursday.
The bill passed the House on Wednesday. Its supporters include Wyoming's all-Republican congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis.
“Wyoming’s congressional delegation did a yeoman’s effort to protect our mining industry and rescind this disastrous decision,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, said in a statement.
The bill erases land manager expertise by overriding the Interior officials who developed the plan to halt coal leasing, Ashley Nunes with the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement.
“Republicans are going out of their way to block basic environmental protections and burden our public lands with more pollution,” Nunes said. "It’s filthy and foolish.”