Coal
More than a million tons of publicly-owned federal coal leaves Wyoming’s Powder River Basin each day, bound for power plants across the nation. It’s a big part of the state’s economy and the nation’s energy mix-but it also takes a toll on our state.
Concerns about coal development were the driving force behind the formation of the Resource Council in 1973, and we played a leading role in passing landmark state and federal mining laws and regulations. Some of our founding members and leaders were on hand when President Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act into law in 1977. We’ve been paying close attention to coal ever since.
Today, we work to protect our air, land, and water resources during mining; we champion effective bonding and reclamation standards and practices; we advocate for a healthy and sustainable climate; and we ensure that the public gets a fair return on the leasing and mining of this publicly-owned resource.
On the power plant side, we advocate for responsible generation of power from coal, anticipating the increasing likelihood of national or international efforts to reduce carbon pollution and promoting the use of the best available technology to minimize impacts to public health and air quality. We also support transition from coal to clean energy, including Wyoming’s growing wind and solar resources.
We have a new video storytelling project, Wyoming Voices, raising local, diverse voices from Southwest Wyoming as the region experiences the energy transition.
Watch all eight Wyoming Voices stories.
For the past two years, we have held a webinar series, Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future, focused on a just and equitable transition:
Watch the 2021 Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future series.
Watch the 2020 Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future series.
