Powder River Releases Wyoming Voices Storytelling Project

Posted by & filed under News.

The Powder River Basin Resource Council (Powder River), in partnership with researchers at the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, has unveiled Wyoming Voices, a pilot project looking at how storytelling may support communities in transition. Through this process, eight participants from Southwest Wyoming not only told their personal stories of […]

Conservation Organizations’ Statement on EPA’s Decision on Jim Bridger Coal Plant

Posted by & filed under News.

Powder River Basin Resource Council, National Parks Conservation Association, and Sierra Club welcomed a decision from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposing to deny a change to a long-standing pollution control plan for the Jim Bridger coal plant in Wyoming. Wyoming and the utility that operates the plant, PacifiCorp (or, Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Power), […]

BLM’s Coal Program Review Lacks Solutions

Posted by & filed under News.

In response to the BLM’s comment summary report on the federal coal program review released in late December, western grassroots organizations voice the need for prompt and long overdue action to improve the process of federal coal leasing and mining beyond just the acknowledgement of a broken system. Bob LeResche, a Board Member of Powder […]

Powder River Statement on DOI Federal Oil & Gas Report

Posted by & filed under News.

The following is a statement from Powder River Board member Bob LeResche on the Department of the Interior’s report on the federal oil and gas program, which was released on Friday. “While we appreciate Interior’s intentions to reform the federal oil and gas program, we hoped they would suggest more specifics. We believe more sweeping […]

Western residents near oil & gas development applaud new emission rules

Posted by & filed under News.

In response to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of New and Existing Source Methane Pollution Standards for the Oil and Gas Industry, leaders from Western states responded: “We applaud EPA’s commitment to tackle the easily preventable and highly dangerous methane pollution from the oil and gas industry,” said Barbara Vasquez, a leader with the […]

Western conservation group pushes ahead with lawsuit against secretive National Coal Council

Posted by & filed under News.

On Wednesday, the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), represented by Democracy Forward and Earthjustice Senior Attorney Shiloh Hernandez, pressed ahead with its lawsuit challenging the National Coal Council’s (NCC) refusal to allow public access to its work during the Trump administration in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). In Wednesday’s filing, WORC […]

Reimagining Wyoming: Buffalo, Sustainability & Transformation

Posted by & filed under News.

Powder River Basin Resource Council’s 49th Annual Meeting On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5 – 6, Powder River Basin Resource Council will host its 49th Annual Meeting online. This year’s theme, Reimagining Wyoming: Buffalo, Sustainability & Transformation, will explore how buffalo can be part of the solution as the state adapts to a rapidly changing […]

National Coal Council Under Intense Scrutiny

Posted by & filed under News.

Western Grassroots Groups Urge Termination or Restructuring of DOE Advisory Group A letter from members of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) details a highly inappropriate relationship between the National Coal Council, a federal advisory committee, and its corporate alter ego, National Coal Council, Inc. WORC urges Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm to scrutinize and […]

Powder River Statement on Interior Federal Coal Program Review

Posted by & filed under News.

“Review of the federal coal program is sorely needed and long overdue. As the coal market continues its decline, the American public, mining states, and coal communities deserve a fair return from federal coal. Leasing should match real market demand and minimize impacts on our air, land, water, and agriculture and to other economic activity […]

Report on Federal Leasing Pause Finds No Dip Western States’ Economies

Posted by & filed under News.

The pause on oil and gas leasing President Biden ordered upon taking office has a minimal effect on national and western regional economies, according to  a new report by the Conservation Economics Institute (CEI). In fact, the analysis finds that the oil and gas industry currently holds leases worth decades of drilling opportunities. The study, “Economic Effects […]