Building Soil for Fat Cows & Ranch Profit Learn how healthy soil leads to more productive rangeland and a healthy herd at Powder River Basin Resource Council’s online panel discussion Building Soil for Fat Cows & Ranch Profit on Thursday, April 29 from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Rancher, author, and soil regeneration pioneer Gabe Brown […]
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Powder River Statement on Coal Creek Mine Closure Announcement
In response to Arch Resources’ announcement to close the Coal Creek Mine, Powder River Basin Resource Council’s Chair Marcia Westkott had this statement: “We remain concerned that the reclamation plan is not aligned with the closure date of the mine, and we call on our regulators to ensure timely and effective reclamation at the mine. […]
Lessons from History: Wyoming’s 30 Years of Failed Coal Upgrading Projects
This report traces the state’s legacy of coal upgrading projects from the 1980s to the present. The Resource Council researched sixteen different public and private projects that were attempted during the past thirty years and found that only one successfully created a marketable product. The report offers the fifteen failed projects as evidence that the […]
Powder River Breaks Newsletter January – February 2021
January – February 2021, Volume 49, Number 1 In an effort to demonstrate widespread concern about air quality related to oil and gas development in Laramie County, Cheyenne Area Landowners Coalition (CALC), an affiliate of Powder River, teamed up with Earthworks’ Community Empowerment Project to film several leaking wells with state-of-the-art infrared cameras. The organizations […]
ESM & Interior Reach Troubling Deal on Unpaid Royalties in Blackjewel Bankruptcy
On Friday, Feb. 19, the Department of Interior, Eagle Specialty Materials (ESM), and the attorneys in Blackjewel’s bankruptcy case released a settlement agreement for unpaid royalties on federal coal leases mined by Blackjewel, and its predecessor, Contura, at the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. According to the legal filing, […]
Westerners support reforming broken leasing system for federal coal, oil and gas
President Biden today signed several executive orders, including a pause on further leasing of oil and gas by the federal government, and a review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands. Federal mineral leasing programs have been repeatedly criticized by government watchdogs for wasting public resources. Additionally, […]
Powder River Breaks Newsletter November – December 2020
November – December 2020, Volume 48, Number 6 In November, over 125 Wyoming citizens filed comments with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) urging a denial of Aethon Energy’s proposal to dispose of up to 30,000 barrels per day of polluted oil and gas wastewater into the Madison Aquifer Aethon must get approval […]
Powder River’s 2020 Annual Report
This is Powder River Basin Resource Council’s 2020 Annual Report. To read the full report, please download the PDF.
Powder River Breaks September – October 2020
September – October 2020, Volume 48, Number 5 They’re baaccck! That’s right, Aethon Energy is back before the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) trying again to get approval for their previously rejected proposal to inject 20,000 barrels per day of polluted oil and gas wastewater from the Moneta Divide field into the Madison […]
Western Conservation Group Sues Trump Administration Over Secretive Coal Council
Today, on behalf of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Democracy Forward sued the Trump administration for violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by refusing to make fully public the meetings and records of the National Coal Council (NCC) — an outside advisory group that makes recommendations on federal policies related to the […]