Happy American Energy Independence Day

Energy abundance. Energy security. Energy independence. As we approach July 4th, our Independence Day, it’s worth taking a moment to recognize the leap forward the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) provides to boosting American energy production and reversing the damaging legacy left by the prior administration.

In the closing months of the Biden administration, the Department of Interior issued Resource Management Plans that essentially halted future coal leasing on federal land. These were remarkable actions considering soaring electricity demand, mounting challenges to bringing new energy capacity online and our recent brush with a global energy crisis that saw U.S. coal producers surge production to shore up the energy supplies of overseas allies and reduce soaring electricity prices in the U.S.

The Biden administration’s actions were just one more gut punch to American energy affordability, energy security and to mining states and communities that have thrived thanks to the federal coal leasing program.

Fortunately, commonsense is prevailing. Building off President Trump’s executive actions to reinvigorate the domestic coal industry, the OBBB restores and solidifies regular coal leasing, and it mandates coal lease sales are available on 4 million acres with “known recoverable coal resources.” In other words, the bill addresses the cumulative impacts of the Biden-era federal Resource Management Plan restrictions, once again allowing coal leasing to respond to market needs.

Wyoming was particularly hard hit by the Biden administration’s punitive policies, losing vital leasing revenues that are a significant source of funding for public education. The Wyoming Energy Authority played a key role in educating Congress and the Congressional Budget Office about the significant economic benefits and revenues that could be gained from renewed coal leasing in the region through the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Senate Republicans believe the bill will generate billions in new federal revenue through expanded oil, gas and coal leasing. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said, “America is an energy superpower, and once again, we are going to act like it.”

Wyoming, home to the Powder River Basin, is case in point to the importance of the federal coal leasing program. A tremendous success story, the program has delivered affordable, reliable fuel to the nation’s coal fleet—fuel we’re going to need as we tackle the twin challenges of eroding grid reliability and surging power demand. U.S. electricity generation from coal power plants is in fact up 23% year-over-year through April according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Just last week, as soaring temperatures blanketed much of the country, it was the coal and natural gas fleets coming to the rescue to ramp up generation to keep the lights and ACs running. As Mark Christie, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said in reviewing the data from the heatwave, “You’ve got to have dispatchable resources. There’s no way around that.” 

He’s absolutely right. And the administration and Congress are absolutely right for ensuring we can get back to using America’s vast coal resources to meet our energy needs and drive economic prosperity.