Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future webinar series starts April 27

Family Resources for a Changing Wyoming Workforce On Tuesday, April 27 Powder River Basin Resource Council will kick off its spring webinar series, Reclaiming & Growing Wyoming’s Future, exploring the resources available to Wyoming families in order to make the changing workforce easier to navigate. Speakers will share the many resources and opportunities available for […]

Powder River Statement on Coal Creek Mine Closure Announcement

In response to Arch Resources’ announcement to close the Coal Creek Mine, Powder River Basin Resource Council’s Chair Marcia Westkott had this statement: “We remain concerned that the reclamation plan is not aligned with the closure date of the mine, and we call on our regulators to ensure timely and effective reclamation at the mine. […]

Powder River Breaks Newsletter January – February 2021

January – February 2021, Volume 49, Number 1 In an effort to demonstrate widespread concern about air quality related to oil and gas development in Laramie County, Cheyenne Area Landowners Coalition (CALC), an affiliate of Powder River, teamed up with Earthworks’ Community Empowerment Project to film several leaking wells with state-of-the-art infrared cameras. The organizations […]

ESM & Interior Reach Troubling Deal on Unpaid Royalties in Blackjewel Bankruptcy

On Friday, Feb. 19, the Department of Interior, Eagle Specialty Materials (ESM), and the attorneys in Blackjewel’s bankruptcy case released a settlement agreement for unpaid royalties on federal coal leases mined by Blackjewel, and its predecessor, Contura, at the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. According to the legal filing, […]

Westerners support reforming broken leasing system for federal coal, oil and gas

President Biden today signed several executive orders, including a pause on further leasing of oil and gas by the federal government, and a review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands. Federal mineral leasing programs have been repeatedly criticized by government watchdogs for wasting public resources. Additionally, […]

Powder River Breaks Newsletter November – December 2020

November – December 2020, Volume 48, Number 6 In November, over 125 Wyoming citizens filed comments with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) urging a denial of Aethon Energy’s proposal to dispose of up to 30,000 barrels per day of polluted oil and gas wastewater into the Madison Aquifer Aethon must get approval […]

Powder River’s 2020 Annual Report

This is Powder River Basin Resource Council’s 2020 Annual Report. To read the full report, please download the PDF.

Powder River Breaks September – October 2020

September – October 2020, Volume 48, Number 5 They’re baaccck! That’s right, Aethon Energy is back before the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC) trying again to get approval for their previously rejected proposal to inject 20,000 barrels per day of polluted oil and gas wastewater from the Moneta Divide field into the Madison […]

Western Conservation Group Sues Trump Administration Over Secretive Coal Council

Today, on behalf of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Democracy Forward sued the Trump administration for violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by refusing to make fully public the meetings and records of the National Coal Council (NCC) — an outside advisory group that makes recommendations on federal policies related to the […]

Conservation groups: Federal Powder River Basin coal plan violates court order

BLM Plans Govern Coal Mining of 50,000 Acres, 6 Billion Tons of Coal Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today to challenge a massive Powder River Basin coal mining plan that the groups say ignores alternatives to coal, oil and gas leasing and fails to publicly acknowledge the harms from coal combustion, violating federal law […]