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Interior Rejects Utah Coal Lease Bid as Federal Sales Stall Despite Expanded Offerings

BLM is pausing further auctions after lowball or solitary offers failed to meet fair‑market requirements.

A mechanized shovel loads coal into a haul truck at the Spring Creek mine, in this Nov. 15, 2016 photo, near Decker, Mont. The first sale of coal leases associated with the Trump administration’s push to revitalize the broader coal industry fell flat last week when the Bureau of Land Management only received one bid.
The United States flag waves in the wind at the visitors center in Capitol Reef National Park on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003.

Overview

  • Federal officials rejected the sole bid for a 120-acre lease beneath Utah’s Manti-La Sal National Forest near the Skyline Mine, saying it did not satisfy the Mineral Leasing Act’s fair market value standard.
  • The Utah sale, sought by a Wolverine Fuels subsidiary and covering about 1.3 million tons of coal, is the third proposed public-lands coal deal in the West to fall through this month.
  • Earlier this week, BLM rejected a single $186,481.59 offer for the 167 million‑ton Spring Creek tract in Montana that equated to roughly one‑tenth of a penny per ton.
  • An even larger Wyoming lease next to the Antelope Mine was postponed, and agencies report no coal lease auctions are currently scheduled nationwide.
  • The administration recently opened more than 13 million acres for coal leasing and lowered the royalty rate to 7%, even as analysts cite weak demand from cheaper gas, growing renewables and retiring plants, and conservation groups object to new Utah tracts near Zion, Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef previously flagged as unsuitable.