Coal is a combustible stratified organic sedimentary rock composed of altered or decomposed and reconstituted plant remains of non‐marine origin, combined with varying minor amounts of inorganic material. Different types of coals are classified by their degree of metamorphism in accordance with standard specifications of the American Society for Testing Materials. Most Wyoming coals are classified as bituminous or sub‐bituminous.
Coal is classified as a leasable solid mineral under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. The BLM manages coal leasing and other administrative duties related to coal production from federal coal lands throughout the United States pursuant to the 43 CFR Part 3400, Coal Management.
Wyoming has the largest federal coal program in the BLM. Most Wyoming coal is used for steam generation in the electrical utility industry. Coal production in Wyoming comes from four primary areas (1) the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming, (2) the Hanna Basin in south central Wyoming, (3) the Rock Springs area, and (4) the Kemmerer area in southwestern Wyoming.
Coal mining in the Bighorn Basin dates back to the 1890s (Glass et al. 1975), when it was primarily mined for use as a domestic fuel and fuel for the railroad industry. Between 1910 and 1929, approximately 500,000 tons per year were mined; between 1920 and 1956 approximately 90,000 to 200,000 tons per year were mined; however, by the mid 1950s, after railroads converted to diesel engines, annual tonnage dropped to less than 10,000 (Glass et al. 1975, BLM 1993). Historically, most coal mined in the Bighorn Basin was extracted from coalbeds within the Mesaverde Formation, which is, therefore, the most important coal-producing formation in the Bighorn Basin (Glass 1981). Most coal produced from the Bighorn Basin has been mined from the Gebo and Grass Creek Coal Fields.
Coal is the only solid leasable mineral currently mined in the Planning Area. There is only one active coal mine in the Planning Area, and it produces about 70,000 to 100,000 tons per year from the Grass Creek Coal Field. This coal mine is on private land, not BLM-administered land (BLM 2008d).
Currently, there are no exploration licenses or leases issued for federally administered coal in the Planning Area (BLM 2008d). However, there are federal coal resources in the Planning Area, primarily in the Cretaceous Mesa Verde, Meeteetse, and Paleocene Fort Union Formations. Several scattered parcels of land have mineral reservations specifically for coal or designated coal classifications. Coal production in the Planning Area is generally not considered economically feasible due to the relative thinness of the coalbeds, thickness of the overburden, and low quality of the coal. Map 6 shows known and potential coal-bearing strata in the Planning Area.
At present, there is no coal leasing or production on BLM-administered land in the Planning Area. Therefore, the BLM has not identified management challenges for this resource. However, if coal leasing and development were to occur in the Planning Area, management challenges could result due to conflicts with other program areas, such as oil and gas activities.