U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who is trooping throughout the coal-rich Powder River Basin (PRB) this week visiting mining operations to get a pulse on the frustrations of Wyomingites over the federal war on coal, said she plans to invite former President Donald Trump to the Cowboy State.
“He recognizes the importance of our energy industry,” Hageman told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
When Trump served as the 45th president of the United States, Hageman explained that the former commander in chief helped America achieve energy independence for first time in more than 60 years.
“He understands the significance of it,” Hageman said, adding she knows Trump and what he could mean for Wyoming if reelected.
“He and I are friends. From the standpoint of understanding the importance of Wyoming and what we do, he loves our state,” said Hageman, who is upset with the Biden administration wielding the Bureau of Land Management and Environmental Protection Agency as weapons to shut down the coal industry in Wyoming.
Trump last visited Wyoming in May 2022 when Hageman was endorsed by the former president in her GOP primary race against former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney. The Wyoming Trump rally drew an estimated crowd of 20,000, overflowing the Ford Wyoming Center.
Hageman’s plan to invite Trump to visit Wyoming again comes amid a backdrop of the Biden administration’s disruptive policies hitting the coal, natural gas and oil industries by replacing them with alternative wind and solar sources for producing electricity.
The attacks on Wyoming’s natural resources have been evident in recent months, she said.
On May 16, the BLM issued a proposed rule out of its Buffalo Field Office that basically ends coal production in the Cowboy State under existing public land leases in 2041.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has 60 days to comment on the rules, while the public has 30 days to give its input. Gordon and others — like the Campbell County Commission in Gillette — are working in this direction.
The two tracks are happening simultaneously, which means new federal leasing on public lands in Wyoming’s coal heartland could become prohibited as early as mid-July, though most insiders say that after the presidential election is the more likely time of their implementation.
Regain Coal’s Destiny
On Tuesday, Hageman said that she introduced two pieces of legislation to regain coal’s destiny in Wyoming.
One proposal would block the Buffalo proposal to end coal leasing by 2041. The second would defund the BLM’s effort to implement the funeral date for coal mining in Wyoming.
“It’s the war on the West, and it’s the war on affordable and reliable energy,” she said.
In April, the EPA issued environmental rules designed to regulate coal and natural gas-fired power plants out of existence over the next decade, yet another front that could effectively undermine Wyoming’s coal-dependent economy.
On May 9, Gordon filed a pair of lawsuits challenging the rules, while earlier this month the state unveiled the beginnings of a plan to pursue a new legal action against the EPA.
The Wyoming Energy Authority opened a request for proposals from “companies, organizations and individuals” to secure services to support suing over the EPA’s recent proposal that could result in the early retirement of Wyoming-based power plants.
The coal industry also has been hit with projections about cuts in coal production expected this year out of St. Louis-based behemoths Arch Resources Inc. and Peabody Energy Corp., with overall coal volume in the first three months of the year being down more than 20%.
Coal leasing on federal land in the PRB has brought in billions of dollars in revenue to Wyoming and its coal mining industry, as it supplies roughly 40% of the thermal coal needed by power plants owned by electric utilities in the United States.
The 12 active surface coal mines within the Buffalo Field Office’s reach produced about 230 million short tons of federal coal in 2023, down from 446 million tons in 2008.
In the interview with Cowboy State Daily, Hageman said that she had visited uranium and coal mining operations.
Hageman said that she visited Strata Energy Inc.’s uranium project in northeastern Wyoming just north of Moorcroft in Crook County.
’Terribly Worried'
Uranium has seen a resurgence in Wyoming because of renewed interest in nuclear power. That optimism has been buoyed by the recent groundbreaking of the billionaire Bill Gates-backed TerraPower LLC’s microreactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minnesota, joined Hageman on the trip to Wyoming’s PRB.
Stauber is chairman of the influential subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, which is part of the larger House Committee on Natural Resources.
At the Belle Ayr coal mine owned by Eagle Specialty Materials, Hageman said that she met with miners and company representatives.
“The key takeaway was her hearing what the miners had to say and the stories about how much their jobs mean to them,” said Christian Palich, vice president of government and external affairs with Eagle Specialty Materials.
“We gave her (and Stauber) a tour of the mine to see where America’s energy comes from, and what an 80-foot coal seam looks like,” Palich said. “She talked to our miners and team about how much coal mining means to the state of Wyoming, and how the federal government needs to support them.”
Data provided by the Mine Safety and Health Administration shows that mining actually rose slightly for Eagle Specialty Materials in its 2024 first quarter versus 2023.
Production rose in the first three months to 3.9 million tons of coal versus 3.6 million tons in the same 2023 period. Employment fell slightly to 254 workers from 264 over the same period.
“We had an opportunity to visit with some of the workers,” Hageman said. “What we learned from them is that they’re terribly worried, they’re terribly nervous.”
Their future livelihoods are at stake, she said.
“These are awfully high-paying jobs, good benefits, with third- and fourth-generation people who are working these facilities as electricians, miners, as managers and as compliance officers,” she said. “It’s amazing what these people do. One of the reasons I’m so proud of being from Wyoming is we make people’s lives better.
“We are one of the largest energy producers in the nation. We keep the lights on.”
Stauber told Cowboy State Daily he’s got his own battle with the Biden administration over the Duluth Complex in northeastern Minnesota along the shoreline of Lake Superior where the largest copper and nickel deposit in the world exists.
Two years ago, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland halted leasing on BLM lands in his state for the critical minerals on more than 225,000 acres of public land.
“We’ve gotten nothing but radio silence,” said Stauber of his request for Haaland to give the land back to mining interests.
“Wyoming is in a very special spot and has an opportunity to lead in the energy space,” said the 58-year-old Stauber, who last visited Wyoming in 1972 with his parents in a “big station wagon” filled with his five siblings.
“We now have an administration that wants to shut down Wyoming," he said. "We really have to push back. I’m in the fight for Wyoming."
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
