Wyoming and Montana are suing the federal government for advancing a plan to end federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, one of the biggest coal-producing hubs in the nation.
The states’ lawsuit takes direct aim at the Bureau of Land Management’s move last month to amend resource management plans in the two states. The agency’s decision halts new coal leasing in a region that pumps out 40 percent of the nation’s coal — a move that the incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly reverse.
Attorneys general for Wyoming and Montana argue in the suit — filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming — that the decision is unjustified and unsupported under federal law. They also said it would block development on land that accounts for 85 percent of all coal produced on federal land, where “coal is still king.”
Republican Montana Gov. Mark Gordon accused the Biden administration of purposefully targeting coal instead of working with the states.
