WPBN: The state of Wyoming and the state of Montana filed a lawsuit against the United States Bureau of Land Management on Thursday, with the intention of challenging the agency’s regulation that prohibits federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, which is the most productive coal-producing region in the country.
According to the state, around 5,000 people are directly employed by coal mines located on the Wyoming side of the basin, which also stretches into Montana.
In a recent announcement, the federal agency made its final decision about a supplemental environmental impact assessment and proposed amendment to land use plans for its field offices in Buffalo and Miles City, Montana.
The agency chose to go with a “no future coal leasing alternative.”
This approach was defended in part by pointing out that coal corporations have not proposed a substantial new federal coal lease in the region in more than ten years, and that existing leases that are not impacted by the moratorium allow mining to continue until 2041 at the same rate of coal output that is already being produced.
“Instead of working with the states to address their concerns, BLM pushed through their narrow-minded agenda to stop using coal, ignoring the multiple-use mandate and the economic impacts of this decision, including skyrocketing electricity bills for consumers,” Gov. Mark Gordon stated on Thursday. “They did not do their job properly.”
As well as the Wyoming Freedom Caucus of state politicians, who blasted Gordon for not launching a lawsuit earlier in the process, local officials in northeast Wyoming have been seeking the lawsuit for a considerable amount of time. On the other hand, the state did not have the legal authority to file a lawsuit until the Bureau of Land Management issued its final ruling, which occurred in November.
Assuring local leaders and people that he would spare no resources in his pursuit to overturn the prohibition, Gordon presented his legal approach during a town hall meeting that took place in Gillette in the month of June 2018.
In order to prepare Wyoming’s case against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), he utilized the state’s “coal litigation fund” that was worth $1.2 million earlier this year. He also announced that an extra $800,000 will be allocated to the fund in order to support the endeavor.
According to the office of Chief Gordon, Wyoming is now involved in more than fifty litigation against rules enacted by the Biden administration that pose a threat to the state’s fossil fuel sector.
“I look forward to the courts scrutinizing this misguided and politically-driven amendment which consciously ignored our country’s increasing demand for affordable energy,” he stated.
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