Powder River

As the editorial board points out, the Biden administration’s actions to end new leases in the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana is a positive step we all should recognize and applaud.

The front line in the political battle over the fuel is in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana, a sparsely populated section of the Great Plains with the nation’s largest coal mines.

Interior Department, would end new leasing of taxpayer-owned coal reserves in the Powder River Basin, clouding the future of mines including Westmoreland Mining’s Rosebud Mine that provides about 6 million tons of fuel annually for Colstrip.

Washingtonians should welcome the recent news that the Biden administration has proposed ending new leases on federal land in the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana.

No new leases of coal in Powder River means light at the end of the tunnel for coal’s extraction there and transport by train through this state.