Feds bar new Powder River coal leasing

CASPER — The Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday passed final rules for the Powder River Basin stating that more than 413,000 acres of land are to be blocked off from new federal coal leasing.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon blasted the decision and stated that he will seek to have the decision reversed — even through litigation.

The revision of the rules began following a court order that directed the BLM to conduct a new environmental analysis that included no new coal leasing and limited coal leasing as options.

The decision to end new federal coal leasing — making 48.12 billion short tons of coa...