BLM sets October auction for 365M tons of Wyoming coal

The Bureau of Land Management has signed off on a competitive lease sale that could unlock a massive new block of federal coal in the Powder River Basin. In a Record of Decision issued Sept. 25, the agency approved the West Antelope III Lease by Application from Navajo Transitional Energy Company, covering roughly 3,508 acres about 15 miles south of Wright and next to the existing West Antelope Mine.

BLM estimates the tract holds about 441 million tons of in-place coal, with roughly 365 million tons considered recoverable using surface mining. The sale will run Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. at the BLM Wyoming State Office in Cheyenne. Only qualified bidders can participate, and offers must be submitted as sealed bids. The lease goes to the highest cash bid that meets or beats fair market value.

Detailed terms, bidding instructions, and other fine print are spelled out in the agency’s Detailed Statement of Lease Sale, available at the Wyoming State Office and on BLM’s e-planning site.

BLM says the project aligns with the current administration’s priorities to boost domestic energy, cut reliance on foreign supplies, and support jobs in rural communities. The agency manages about 245 million acres of public land across 12 Western states, including Alaska, and oversees 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate nationwide.

If awarded, the lease would extend mining south of West Antelope and keep one of the basin’s major producers supplied for years, though how much coal ultimately gets mined will depend on market conditions.

County 17, Oilprice.com, and Inside Climate News contributed to this report.