Editor’s Note: Steve McManamen of the Gillette News Record wrote a timely and interesting piece on mining coal in the Powder River Basin, and the dichotomy it presents. The article points out some, but not all, of the positive and negative aspects of the industry.

Mining coal in the Powder River Basin does cause problems for the local and global environments, but also provides benefits to local and national economies.

While almost 14 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions originates from coal that is mined from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, so does about half of the electricity produced in the U.S., according to Bureau of Land Management documents. About 40 percent of the nation’s coal production comes from the Powder River Basin.

The environmental cost and socio-economic benefit of mining coal is not something the BLM or the Wyoming residents that call the Powder River Basin home take lightly.

Listed here are some (but not all) of the main benefits and problems mining coal has on locals, according to the BLM draft proposal for the coal leases to St. Louis-based Arch Coal’s Black Thunder Mine, Gillette-based Rio Tinto’s Jacobs Ranch mine and St. Louis-based Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine, published in June.

Some of the positive aspects of mining coal in the PRB and increased expansion:

- The expansions could add about 23 years to the mines.

- The statewide total employment increased by more than 10 percent from 2003 to 2006 and nearly a third of the new jobs created in that time were in the mining industry. The mining sector, which includes oil and gas workers, accounts for almost 28 percent of all employment in Campbell County.

- The majority of the three mines’ employees live in Gillette and Wright. Campbell County’s population rose from 33,698 in 2000 to an estimated 40,473 in July 2008.

- These leases would result in about $4.5 to 8.7 billion in revenue to Wyoming based on an estimated coal price of $11 and assuming all county highways are moved. In 1994, the University of Wyoming estimated that the total fiscal benefit to the state for coal produced in the Powder River Basin was $1.10.

Some of the negative aspects include:

- Proposed actions would affect air quality, cultural resources, endangered plants, migratory birds, water quality (both surface and ground water) and harm wetland zones.

- The expansions would bring active mining within six miles of Wright. Several of the operations would eventually be visible from several state highways.

- All of the water in the coal would have to be pumped off the coal, causing a large drawdown in the coal aquifers. The expansion would result in a complete dewatering of the coal aquifer in localized areas.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE.