US rejects bid to lease coal from public lands in Utah as sales in
western states fall flat
[October 17, 2025] By
MATTHEW BROWN
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials rejected a mining company’s bid
for more than 6 million tons of coal beneath a national forest in Utah,
marking the third proposed coal sale from public lands in the West to
fall through this month, the Interior Department disclosed Thursday.
The failed sales mark a setback in Republican President Donald Trump’s
push to revive a coal mining industry that’s been in decline for almost
two decades. Emissions from burning coal are a leading driver of climate
change that’s raising sea levels and making weather more extreme.
The Interior Department rejected the sole bid it received for two tracts
of federal coal on the Manti-La Sal National Forest because it did not
meet the requirements of the Mineral Leasing Act, agency spokesperson
Alyse Sharpe said.
The leasing act requires companies to pay fair market value for coal
mined on public lands. Sharpe declined to say how much was bid.
The coal tracts near central Utah’s Skyline Mine were requested by a
subsidiary of Wolverine Fuels LLC, which operates Skyline and two other
active coal mines in the area, employing 950 people, according to its
website. The Associated Press left voicemails and electronic messages
seeking comment from the company.
The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management offered a lease on
one tract, with 1.3 million tons of coal, during an Oct. 1 competitive
sale. The other tract, with 5 million tons of coal, was a proposed
expansion of an existing lease held. The rejected bid covered both
tracts, Sharpe said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said two weeks ago that the government
will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining. But it’s
unclear who would want that fuel as utilities turn to cheaper natural
gas and renewables such as wind and solar to generate electricity.
On Oct. 6, a coal sale from public lands in Montana that would have been
the largest by the government in more than a decade drew a single bid of
$186,000, or about one-tenth of a penny per ton of coal, and was later
rejected. That lease held 167 million tons of coal in southeastern
Montana near the Navajo Transition Energy Co.'s Spring Creek mine.
Two days later the Interior Department postponed an even bigger sale —
440 million tons next to the Navajo Nation-owned company's Antelope Mine
in Wyoming.
Sharpe repeated the Trump administration's assertion that the policies
of former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama were to blame for the
failed sales, saying they tried "to dismantle domestic production and
shake investor confidence in the industry."
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The Spring Creek coal mine is seen in an aerial photograph, taken
May 28, 2013, near Decker, Mont. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette
via AP)
 Both Democrats attempted to curb
sales of coal from public lands, only to have those policies
reversed by Trump.
Three other coal lease sales from public lands were successful under
Trump. The largest, in Alabama, involved 54 million tons of higher
quality coal used in steelmaking that Warrior Met Coal Mining bought
for $46 million, or about 87 cents per ton. Two recent sales in
North Dakota of leases containing a combined 30 million tons of coal
brought in $186,000 total, or less than a penny per ton.
“As demand for reliable, dispatchable power grows, coal remains a
critical component of ensuring affordable and dependable energy for
the American people,” Sharpe said in a statement.
Industry analysts and economists say the biggest driver of coal's
retreat has been market forces that make other energy sources more
economical. Many coal plants served by large mines on public lands
in the West are nearing retirement.
Environmentalists fought for years against the expansion of Utah's
Skyline Mine. Emma Yip with the Center for Biological Diversity
described the bid rejection as “yet another face-plant for the Trump
administration" as it tries to prop up a dying industry.
“Coal is among the dirtiest energy sources on Earth and burning it
continues to sicken and kill Americans. There’s no defensible reason
to keep it on life support when absolutely nobody wants it,” Yip
said.
Shrinking coal demand in the U.S. has prompted mining companies to
seek out customers overseas, including in Asia where consumption has
continued to rise. Wolverine Fuels, Warrior Met Coal Mining and
Navajo Transitional Energy Co. export some of their coal.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during a Thursday conference call
with reporters that coal remains the largest source of electricity
globally and predicted that U.S. exports of the fuel would increase.
Prior efforts to boost exports were hobbled by a lack of U.S. port
capacity.
___
Associated Press reporter Matthew Daly contributed from Washington.
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