Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future webinar series continues May 18
Tools for Tough Times During Wyoming’s Energy Transition On Tuesday, May 18 Powder River Basin Resource Council will continue its spring webinar series, Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future, by helping families changing jobs and careers become more aware of the tools and resources available to them, including the benefits of being proactive about family finances […]
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, […]
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 […]
Conservation groups: Federal Powder River Basin coal plan violates court order
BLM Plans Govern Coal Mining of 50,000 Acres, 6 Billion Tons of Coal Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today to challenge a massive Powder River Basin coal mining plan that the groups say ignores alternatives to coal, oil and gas leasing and fails to publicly acknowledge the harms from coal combustion, violating federal law […]
Remaining coal mine reclamation could create hundreds of jobs for rural Wyoming
The collapse of the coal industry is devastating small communities across the Western United States, but reclaiming these mined lands quickly could create up to 4,800 full-time equivalent jobs per year in the critical two-to-three-year period after mine closure says a report released today by the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC). The report, “Coal […]
Bankruptcies and Inadequate Bonds Threaten Taxpayers, Landowners with Orphan Oil and Gas Wells
In the midst of historically low oil prices and plummeting demand due to coronavirus restrictions, inadequate federal and state reclamation bonding requirements make it easier for deeply indebted oil and gas operators to declare bankruptcy and walk away from orphaned wells en masse. A recent report by the Western Organization of Resource Councils examining the […]
