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Notice of Competitive Coal Lease Sale, Wyoming

October 17, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has announced a new coal lease sale in the Powder River. The South Hilight Field Coal Tract in Campbell County, Wyoming holds an estimated 223M short tons of mineable coal in two different seams, one 13 feet thick and a deeper one that is up to 75 feet thick. The tract is adjacent to the south and west of the Black Thunder Mine, and the lease sale was requested by the Ark Land Company, of St. Louis, MO.

Bids for the lease sale are due by December 13, 2011, and the lease sale will be the next day.

Read federal notice at http://federalregister.gov/a/2011-26744

Black Thunder Mine at SourceWatch

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Black_Thunder_Mine

Rail congestion expected to plague Powder River Basin coal into late 2014

May 22, 2014

The Powder River Basin is expected to face severe rail congestion until at least late 2014 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Despite the frigid winter and an increased demand for coal to restock pile utilities, the delays from winter weather have created a backlog of coal shipments. Additionally, a shorter harvest season and the boom in domestic oil production created the increased need for rail cars. All of these factors have cause severe delays in rail deliveries out of the Powder River Basin.

Mines like Arch Coal are seeing this first hand such as at the Black Thunder mine where the company will be trying to fulfill their orders throughout the remainder of 2014.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/rail-congestion-expected-to-plague-powder-river-basin-coal-into/article_23b38c27-ed6a-5984-9ae4-6597f798720e.html

Largest coal mines still in Wyoming, but US is diversifying

April 21, 2014

The Powder River Basin in 2013 listed the top nine coal producing mines in the United States. However, the amount of mines in the Powder River Basin situated in the top twenty five highest producing mines shrinked as compared to twenty years ago.

The decline in the amount of Powder River Basin mines being in the top twenty-five is the result of large mining projects taking hold in New Mexico, Texas, Indiana and Ohio. Nevertheless, the scale of coal production in the Powder River Basin’s Black Thunder mine and the North Antelope Rochelle mine are the largest producing coalmines with growths as high as 400% since 1994.

 Read article at http://www.mining.com/web/largest-coal-mines-still-in-wyoming-but-us-is-diversifying/

Worker dies at Wyoming’s Black Thunder mine

August 16 2013

A 24 year old Upton, WY man died early morning on August 16^th while working for the Black Thunder mine.

Jacob Dowdy, a miner for Arch Coal, was killed when a powder shovel at Black Thunder mine was driving up a ramp and rolled backwards, colliding with Jacob Dowdy’s truck and killing him and injuring the driver of the other truck behind him.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/worker-dies-at-wyoming-s-black-thunder-mine/article_d0a00eb8-9ac8-57a2-8b0e-557a73dbccd9.html

BLM offers 222.7 million tons of Wyoming coal

October 23, 2011

The latest coal lease sale to be approved by the Bureau of Land Management is a new parcel of land adjacent to Arch Coal’s Black Thunder Coal Mine, which in 2010 was the country’s highest producing coal mine. The sale of the South Hilight Field Coal Tract, requested by Arch Coal, could expand Black Thunder by more than 200M tons of coal, and is important to the mine because it is between Black Thunder and other federal lands with unleased coal tracts. The lease sale will bring the total leased by the BLM in 2011 to more than 1 billion tons of coal.

Not to be outdone, Peabody Energy’sNorth Antelope Rochelle Mine, the largest producing mine in 2009, is nearing a lease sale for the North Porcupine and South Porcupine tracts which together total more than 1 billion tons of mineable coal. Under the “Lease by Application” rules, companies suggest to the BLM which parcels of land should be put up for a lease sale. As a result, few coal lease sales attract more than one bidder, and the two this year which did both set record prices.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_539b8f60-1d0a-5902-8498-4f865204de3d.html

Opponents ready coal lease fight in Wyoming

March 15, 2011

One environmental group is planning and another is considering an appeal to the recent decision by the Bureau of Land Management to approve the leasing of a 2000 acre site adjacent to the Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin in Campbell County Wyoming. The Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC), a landowner’s group based out of Sheridan, WY, is preparing its appeal. “I think a lot of the time the decisions has already been made and they’re just going through the process to justify it,” said LJ Turner, a spokesman for the PRBRC and a rancher who grazes animals on the site that has been approved for leasing. “I’ve been here all my life, and I’m not going anywhere else. I’d like to have it for the kids so it’s there — so they can do some of the things I’ve had to do.”

Wild Earth Guardians is also considering an appeal of the leasing decision, citing its concerns about the sheer tonnage of coal that is involved in the decision. The Powder River Basin currently produces about 40% of the nation’s coal in its mines and last year the Black Thunder Mine shipped coal to nearly 100 different power plants in the US including plants as far away Arizona and New York. “Once these leases are issued, the companies have the right to mine coal,” said Jeremy Nichols of Wild Earth Guardians. “So this is the go, no-go time. So we’re going to do what we can.”

Read article at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_8d09f60b-687e-5d68-b20b-1c563a39453d.html

Another North East Wyoming coal lease gets federal approval

March 13, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has approved another 222M of coal to be mined in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming making it the fourth lease approved in the last two years. The lease, situated to the west of the Black Thunder Mine is approximately 2000 acres. The lease was requested by Arch Coal, operators of Black Thunder, under the “Lease By Application” procedure that has been in place in the Powder River Basin since it was decertified as a coal producing region. Because of its proximity to the Black Thunder Mine, it is expected that Arch Coal will be the only bidder on the lease. It is expected to extend the life of Black Thunder by about a year and a half.

Read article at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_e520a1d6-4dc5-11e0-b7ab-001cc4c002e0.html

Another coal lease gets federal approval

March 9, 2011

The Bureau of Land Management has approved Arch Coal’s request that nearly 2000 acres be auctioned next to Arch’s Black Thunder Mine. Since the site is so small and adjacent to an existing mine it is assumed that Arch will be the only company to bid on the auction. The land is believed to hold more than 220M tons of mineable coal which is expected to extend the life of the Black Thunder Mine by about 1.6 years.

The lease sale is the fourth sale approved this year by the Bureau of Land Management for lands in the Powder River Basin. While each sale has been fought by environmental groups, in each case the BLM has determined that denying an individual lease would not current or future coal consumption, nor would it alter the percentage of electricity generated by coal power, two major arguments put forth by opposition groups.

Read article at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2011/03/09/news/today/news03.txt

Former Wyoming governor joins Arch Coal board

February 23, 2011

Dave Freudenthal, former governor of Wyoming, has been named to the board of Arch Coal. Arch mined 160M tons of coal last year, much of it in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin and Green River regions. Freudenthal served two terms as governor and was very popular in the state, in spite being a Democrat in a strongly Republican state.

Read article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/former-wyoming-governor-joins-arch-coal-board.html

Coal producers decry Ridley Terminals decision

January 24, 2011

Canadian coal producers are furious at the governments decision to award long-term export privileges to three US coal producers. Last week Ridley Terminals signed export contracts with Arch Coal, Cloud Peak and Enserco, large American coal companies hoping to export coal from their Powder River Basin mines to Asian markets. But Canadian coal companies like Teck Resources, Western Coal and Grande Cache Coal say that the terminal is already overloaded and American exports will block terminal capacity that they for their current and future operations.

The Canadian companies are especially incensed because Ridley is a Canadian Crown corporation: completely owned by the government. “A federal Crown corporation just chose American jobs over Canadian jobs,” Teck chief executive officer Don Lindsay told a Vancouver mining conference on Monday. “Hundreds of B.C. jobs are on the line.”

Read article at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/coal-producers-decry-ridley-terminals-decision/article1881479/

Arch Coal finds a passage to Asia

January 18, 2011

Arch Coal has signed a five year deal with Ridley Terminals Inc. to allow 2-2.5 million tons of coal through a port near Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The announcement follows up Arch’s investment last week in the development of a proposed new coal terminal in Cowlitz County by Ambre Energy that may start operations next year. Both are designed to help Arch route more coal from its mines in the Powder River Basin to emerging markets in Asia.

Read article http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_5de746ee-2353-11e0-b52c-00127992bc8b.html

South Hilight Coal Lease Application, EIS and ROD

Environmental Impact Statement for the South Hilight Coal Lease Application, and Record of Decision, WYW174596, March 2011.

Main text
Appendix 1 – Figures
Appendix 2 – Coal Lease Stipulations
Appendix 3 – Letter of Support from US Fish and Wildlife Service
Appendix 4 – Appeal Procedures

North Hilight Coal Lease Application, EIS and ROD

Environmental Impact Statement for the North Hilight Coal Lease Application, and Record of Decision, WYW164812, February 2012.

Main text
Appendix 1 – Figures
Appendix 2 – Coal Lease Stipulations
Appendix 3 – Letter of Support from US Fish and Wildlife Service
Appendix 4 – Appeal Procedures

South Hilight Coal Lease Application – Record of Decision – BLM 2011

WYW174596

/documents/south-hilight-coal-lease-application-record-of-decision-blm-2011

Wright Area Coal Lease – Supplemental Information – 2009

Supplementary Information for a number of different expansion projects around the southern Powder River Basin. WYW164812 (North Hilight Field), WYW174596 (South Hilight Field), WYW172388 (West Hilight Field), WYW172685 (West Jacobs Ranch), WYW173408 (North Porcupine) and WYW176095 (South Porcupine).

/documents/wright-area-coal-lease-supplemental-information-2009

Wright Area Coal Lease – Draft Environmental Impact Statement – Vol 1 and 2 of 2 – 2009

Draft EIS for a number of different expansion projects around the southern Powder River Basin. WYW164812 (North Hilight Field), WYW174596 (South Hilight Field), WYW172388 (West Hilight Field), WYW172685 (West Jacobs Ranch), WYW173408 (North Porcupine) and WYW176095 (South Porcupine).

/documents/wright-area-coal-lease-draft-environmental-impact-statement-vol-1-and-2-of-2-2009

Final Environmental Impact Statement – South Powder River Basin Coal – 2003

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the North Antelope Rochelle Mine, Black Thunder Mine, Antelope Mine and the North Rochelle Mine.

• Volume 1
• Volume 2

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Wright Area Coal Lease Applications Vol 2 – 2010

Final EIS for a number of different expansion projects around the southern Powder River Basin. Volume 2 of 2.
http://coaldiver.org/documents/final-environmental-impact-statement-for-the-wright-area-coal-lease-applications-vol-2-2010

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Wright Area Coal Lease Applications Vol 1 – 2010

Final EIS for a number of different expansion projects around the southern Powder River Basin. Volume 1 of 2.
http://coaldiver.org/documents/final-environmental-impact-statement-for-the-wright-area-coal-lease-applications-vol-1-2010