"DENVER — Federal officials on Monday took a first step toward reopening vast areas of public lands in two Western states to new coal sales as part of President Donald Trump’s push to expand U.S. fossil fuel production.
The Interior Department proposal comes after the Biden administration, citing climate change, tried to end sales of the fuel from the nation’s most productive coal fields — the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana.
The Trump administration is instead considering selling leases for coal mining on more than 2,600 square miles (6,800 kilometers) of federal lands in that region, according to documents released by officials. That’s an area larger than Delaware.
The unfolding course reversal on using public lands to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry stems from an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office. It’s part of Trump’s broad push to increase oil, gas and coal extraction from publicly owned lands and waters in the U.S., even as Republicans pull back support for renewable energy projects."
Matthew Brown reports for the Associated Press July 7, 2025.
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