Senate GOP Nukes Biden-Era Rule Smothering Coal Production

Republicans in the Senate voted Wednesday to blow up a Biden-era rule that locked up thousands of acres for future coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, a region home to an arsenal of the nation’s coal reserves that spans across Montana and Wyoming.

The Powder River Basin provided about 43% of U.S. coal in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Though the Biden administration blocked coal leasing in the key region through a last-minute rule, the Senate passed legislation Wednesday that overturns former President Joe Biden’s ban on coal development opportunities in the Basin.

“Today’s passage of my legislation to remove Biden’s anti-coal rule is a massive win for Montana that sets a precedent for the nation,” Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The American people have rejected the left’s radical climate hysteria and removing this harmful rule will help protect our energy dominance and our national security.”

Republican Montana Sens. Daines and Tim Sheehy along with Republican Montana Reps. Troy Downing and Ryan Zinke introduced the Congressional Review Act Resolution in July and it passed the House on Sept. 3. H.J.Res.104 passed the Senate by a 52-47 vote on Wednesday.

The legislation will now move to President Donald Trump’s desk for signature.

“What we’re doing today is righting a wrong,” Daines said from the Senate floor Wednesday, arguing that the Biden administration’s move was a “midnight rule” issued after the election and without the support of the state affected.

Trump has been moving to bolster coal through multiple executive orders and by repealing several Biden-era actions that stifled the energy resource. Notably, the Trump administration most recently reversed the Biden-era block of the Alaska Ambler Road project Monday.

Biden vowed to shut coal “plants down all across America” and imposed stringent regulations on the industry, while pushing for less time-tested and intermittent energy sources like solar and offshore wind.

“I’m proud to see my bill to overturn the Biden Administration’s outright ban on coal leasing in the Powder River Basin pass the Senate today. H.J. Res. 104 will unleash Montana-made energy, bolstering our national security and ensuring Montanans have access to the affordable, reliable energy they need to thrive for generations to come,” Downing said Wednesday. “I am grateful to Senator Daines for his leadership and to my fellow delegation members for standing side by side with me in championing this legislation. I look forward to watching President Trump sign this bill into law and usher in a new age of American energy dominance.”