Interior Reports 356 Billion Short Tons of Coal Resources Beneath Federal Lands

The Interior Department said July 23 that a new U.S. Geological Survey assessment identifies 356 billion short tons of available coal resources beneath federally managed public lands across the United States. The report also identifies 4.2 billion short tons of reported coal reserves associated with active mines.

The release provides updated federal data for debates over coal mining, energy policy, public-land leasing and the environmental consequences of additional production. It does not, by itself, authorize mining, approve new mines or decide whether federal production will expand.

What the assessment says

The assessment separates reported reserves associated with active mines from the much larger estimate of available coal resources. Interior said the 4.2 billion short tons of reported reserves are tied to mines that are currently active, while the additional 356 billion short tons represent available resources identified beneath federal lands.

Those figures should not be read as a forecast of how much coal will be mined. Interior’s release does not establish how much of the estimated resource is economically recoverable or likely to be extracted. It also does not quantify projected greenhouse-gas emissions, water impacts or the assessment’s effect on future federal leasing.

Wyoming accounts for 87% of the reported reserves associated with active mines under federal lands, according to Interior. The state’s concentration of those reserves makes it the central location identified in the department’s summary, although the assessment covers federally managed public lands across the country.

Mine identified as the largest producer

The department identified the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin as the largest-producing federal-land coal mine. Interior also said the mine holds the largest reported reserves among the federal-land mines covered by the assessment.

The report was released by the Interior Department and prepared through the U.S. Geological Survey. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and the Bureau of Land Management are among the federal entities connected to the department’s public-lands and resource-management responsibilities, but the approved release does not say that either agency has approved a new mining action as a result of this assessment.

Why the numbers matter

Coal resources beneath federal lands can become part of policy discussions about domestic energy supply, mining, public-land management and the future of federal leasing. The newly published figures give policymakers an updated government estimate of the potential resource base, while leaving separate questions about economics, permitting, environmental review and market demand unresolved.

For communities and workers connected to coal production, the assessment may be relevant to arguments about the long-term availability of federal coal. For people concerned about climate, water and land impacts, the report’s limits are equally important: the release does not calculate those effects or promise that the listed resources will be developed.

Interior announced a separate public-land policy change on Feb. 23, saying it had rescinded more than 80% of its prior National Environmental Policy Act regulations and moved most procedures into a departmental handbook. That announcement provides policy background for the department’s 2026 approach to public-land permitting and NEPA procedures, but the coal assessment itself does not state that it changes existing environmental-review or leasing requirements.

What happens next

The July 23 release is an assessment of coal resources and reserves, not a mining permit or lease decision. The approved department materials identify no new mine approval, expanded-production order or specific leasing deadline connected to the report.

Any future development would therefore involve decisions beyond the resource estimate. The assessment supplies information for those discussions, but it does not determine whether a particular resource can be mined, whether a lease will be offered or how environmental impacts would be evaluated.

Interior’s news index continued to list the assessment as a July 2026 department release on July 25. For now, the central development is the federal government’s updated accounting of coal beneath public lands—and the distinction between identifying a resource and authorizing its extraction.

Sources

• Interior Releases Major Update on Coal Potential Beneath Federal Lands, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Interior Department press-release index, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Trump Administration Delivers Historic NEPA Reform, Unleashing Resources on America's Public Lands, U.S. Department of the Interior

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