In the coming days, US authorities will conduct the nation’s largest coal auctions in over a decade, offering 600 million tonnes from state-owned reserves adjacent to strip mines in Montana and Wyoming. The leases, located in the Powder River Basin—the country’s most productive coal region—were expedited following a January executive order by President Donald Trump.
While the auctions align with Trump’s goal of increasing coal extraction from federal lands for power generation, an Associated Press analysis shows that many power stations served by these mines plan to stop using coal within a decade.
The forthcoming sales will go ahead despite the government shutdown, as workers handling fossil fuel permits and leases are exempt from furlough. Then-President Biden had attempted to block future coal leases in the region last year, citing climate change concerns. According to the Department of Energy, burning coal from these leases could generate over 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that more than 20,000 square miles of federal lands would be opened for mining—an area larger than New Hampshire and Vermont combined. The administration has also reduced federal coal royalty rates, extended a Michigan coal plant’s operation, and allocated $625 million for plant modernisation, citing rising electricity demand from AI and data centres. “We’re putting American miners back to work,” Burgum said. “We’ve got a demand curve coming at us in terms of the demand for electricity that is literally going through the roof.”
Who will buy the coal?
The key question remains: who will actually purchase this coal? Data from the US Energy Information Administration and Global Energy Monitor indicate declining demand for the mines slated for expansion or new leases, as power stations reduce coal consumption or plan to cease operations entirely.
The administration’s aggressive push for coal—a major driver of climate change—raises pressing questions. It also points to the uncertainty of implementing such policies in markets where energy producers make long-term decisions with significant consequences, not only for their own operations but for the planet’s future, amid a constantly shifting political landscape.
Montana and Wyoming sales were requested by Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC), which acquired several Powder River Basin mines in a 2019 bankruptcy auction. These mines supply 34 power stations across 19 states, but 21 of these stations plan to stop using coal within a decade, including all five served by NTEC’s Spring Creek mine in Montana.
