US advances largest federal coal lease sale in more than a decade

U.S. officials are moving ahead with the largest federal coal lease sales in more than a decade, offering about 600 million tons of coal from public reserves adjacent to strip mines in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. The Monday sale in southeastern Montana drew a single bid of $186,000 from the Navajo Transitional Energy Company for 167 million tons next to the Spring Creek mine, and a separate offering of 440 million tons near the Antelope mine in central Wyoming is set to follow. The sales are a central element of the administration's effort to expand coal production on federal lands even as many customers signal they will burn less coal in coming years.

Administration officials exempted workers who process fossil fuel permits and leases from a government shutdown furlough so the sales could proceed. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced plans to open more than 20,000 square miles of federal land to mining, and the administration has reduced royalty rates for federal coal, ordered a coal-fired plant to remain online past planned retirement, and pledged $625 million to modernize or recommission coal plants. Officials said the coal offered in the two leases...