U.S. ends coal leasing in country’s largest coal-producing region

In one of the biggest moves yet to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the Biden administration announced Thursday that it would end new leasing coal in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half of the United States’ coal.

Climate activists have long pushed the Interior Department to stop auctioning coal mining leases on public lands, and they celebrated the decision. This could prevent the mining of billions of tons of coal on more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, with major implications for U.S. climate goals.