A popular line since last November was that one election will not help a declining coal industry. Never mind one election; with one vote, and one stroke of a pen, Senators Hoeven, Heitkamp, Representative Cramer, and President Trump just retained untold thousands of coal jobs in North Dakota and throughout the country. Coal country thanks them, and looks forward to working with this new mindset in Washington, DC.
In issuing this rule as a midnight regulation, the Obama Administration knew it would be subject to the Congressional Review Act, and could be overturned – permanently – by Congress and President Trump.
The Stream Protection Rule was developed under the guise of addressing impacts from surface mining in Appalachia. What it turned into was a one-size fits all administrative fiat that would have prohibited mining of approximately 40-60 percent of current coal reserves at mines in North Dakota, and cost electric ratepayers served by North Dakota’s coal-based power plants $50 million annually in compliance.
Mine reclamation in North Dakota has long been held to the standard of returning mined lands to as good or better as before mining. Certainly better in the case of reclaiming naturally-occurring saline seeps and other water features with no ecological or agricultural value. The Stream Protection Rule would not only have had zero benefit over the current standard, it would have prohibited improvements made to the landscape post-mining.
We are also heartened by the confirmation of Ryan Zinke to lead the Department of Interior and Rick Perry at the head of the Department of Energy. Zinke is a former congressman from Montana and Perry is a former Texas governor. We now have friends of the industry in two very important cabinet posts.
As mining companies look toward expanding federal leases and our industry looks forward to solving regulatory issues and discovering better solutions through research and development, it will be increasingly important to have Zinke and Perry as leaders at the federal level.
While we still don’t know how the Clean Power Plan regulations implemented under the Obama Administration will be resolved, we take heart in seeing these first steps taken toward assuring an all-of-the-above energy policy that includes coal-based electricity.
Jason Bohrer
President & CEO
Lignite Energy Council