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The Bureau of Land Management rejected a mining company's bid to acquire 167 million tons of coal on public lands in Montana for just $0.001 per ton.
The company, Navajo Transitional Energy Co., was the only one to bid on the sale, which would have been the largest federal coal sale in more than a decade. As a result of the failed sale, the BLM postponed a lease sale in the Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin, which was scheduled to take place this week.
This happened just a week after Congress used the Congressional Review Act to overturn a Biden-era resource management plan that would have ended new coal leasing on public lands in Montana's portion of the Powder River Basin.
Energy companies aren't the only ones pushing back on President Donald Trump's efforts to boost America's coal industry. On Tuesday, dozens of miners and their families gathered outside the Labor Department building to urge the Trump administration to enforce protections for black lung disease, an incurable illness caused by inhaling coal and silica dust.
“The companies might be getting a handout, but the miners ain’t getting none,” said Gary Hairston, 71, a retired coal miner and president of the National Black Lung Association. Hairston has been living with black lung disease since he was in his 40s.
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That’s what gives me hope, seeing that our future leaders are going to be strong and knowledgeable, and will make decisions that will benefit everyone, not just themselves.”
