Posted on 08/11/2025 8:18:46 PM PDT by george76
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is moving to expand a mine in Wyoming to unlock up to 14.5 million tons of coal.
The DOI approved a mining plan Friday for the Antelope Mine in Converse County, Wyoming, that will expand coal mining across more than 850 federal acres and extend the mine’s life through 2037, according to the DOI. The Antelope Mine expansion is the latest move by the Trump administration to boost the American coal industry and clear the way for conventional and reliable energy sources, contrasting with the nation-wide Biden-era assault on the resource that also hit Wyoming hard.
“The Trump administration is delivering on its promise to revitalize American coal and unleash our nation’s energy potential,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said Friday. “This decision boosts American jobs, enhances energy security and supports communities that rely on coal to power their homes and economies.
...
Operated by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, the Antelope mine supports over 350 jobs, according to the DOI. The mine sits at the bottom of the largest coal basin in the U.S. known as the Powder River Basin. The DOI noted that the approval followed a necessary environmental review and found that the plan would not cause any “significant impact” to the environment.
The approval aligns with President Donald Trump’s April 8 executive order to reinvigorate the American coal industry and Trump’s first-day order to “unleash” American energy. The Trump administration has championed energy technology that it considers reliable and will minimize dependence on foreign supply chains at a time when America’s grid stability is fickle and China has a chokehold on critical minerals.
In contrast, the Biden administration blocked new federal coal leases on the Powder River Basin and pushed for intermittent green energy technology like wind and solar as part of former President Joe Biden’s climate agenda. Additionally, Biden moved to replace coal plants with green energy initiatives, stating that “we’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America,” and placed strict regulations on the industry.
The DOI has dealt many blows to technology the Biden administration favored in the past few weeks, moving to terminate a massive wind farm approved during Biden’s final weeks on August 6, ending “preferential treatment” for wind and solar on July 29 and creating another permitting roadblock for green energy on public lands on August 1.
Better to green light Mr. Fusions....
We should green light nuclear, including fusion. And gar and coal because we can stand those plants up faster than nuclear and fusion at this point in time. The grid was degraded b Obola regimes I, II, and III. We’ve got to reestablish a reliable cushion of base generation ASAP.
Coal is America best resource.
We are “Saudi Arabia of coal”’
World largest coal reserves by much!
Yet, these envirofascists are trying to take that resource away from us!
In another year or so (months?), Democrat states will be complaining about their black outs and accusing conservative states of “hogging” all the electricity. “Marginalized communities” will be hardest hit.
For our energy needs...yes.
For China’s energy needs...ok
And you can hear the green people squealing like stuck pigs.
850 acres!!!! Oh my!! /s
To extend production to 2037? That’s nothing in terms of the area of NE Wyoming. Good deal.
Now, about those pre-fabricated compact nuclear power plants, when will we see them? Soon would be much better than later.
Locking up the coal union vote...
Good move...
Home, home coal is fine
Where the deer and the Antelope Mine
Where seldom is heard an indigenous nerd
And the anthracite's harder to climb.
Is that a lot of coal?
A train car carries 100 tons.
A 100 car train is 10,000 tons.
So that’s 1400 train loads? Roughly 3-5 years?
IOWs, it’s not a lot of coal to warrant a brand new coal mine, but as extension of an existing one, that’s amazing.
I wonder how many other existing coal mines have a similar ability to expand output?
Navajo Nation coal mine that supplies the Navajo power plant called “Four Corners”...
Not sure if they export any coal elsewhere:
https://navenergy.com/antelope-mine/
Update: the Antelope mine must be all for wholesale/export...the Navajo Nation has a coal mine on the Res that supplies all the needs of the Navajo Generating Station:
“IOWs, it’s not a lot of coal”
.
I’ve read the US has enough coal for 200 years.
But Slick Willie probably cut that drastically to create a National Monument (containing much good bituminous coal) in exchange for millions in campaign funds.
Global warming, here we come!
Build some dykes. Employ some bums!
Polar bears might need a break.
There’s no crisis. It’s all fake.
Yay, carbon dioxide! Yay, fossil fuel fast rides!
YAAAAAAY!
It’s one thing to green light coal but a lot of utilities are ran by liberals so until more baseline coal plants come online & laws repealed, it doesn’t mean much. Too many utilities are switching to natural gas to generate electricity so by default, they’re competing with their customers for resources. Not too many homes still burning coal.
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