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.
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.
The Navajo Transitional Energy Company did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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