The Gianforte administration wants the U.S. Department of Interior to open up millions of acres of coal land in eastern Montana's Powder River Basin for future leasing and doesn't believe the two options presented by the Bureau of Land Management to do so go far enough, according to comments submitted to the agency by the governor and state agencies this week.

Meanwhile, a group of nine environmental organizations from Montana, Wyoming and other western states cautioned the BLM against moving too quickly to reverse a Biden-era decision from last year that halted future coal leasing, warning that they do not believe there is a legal basis for the new look at future leasing and that the BLM would have to follow several layers of environmental reviews before making a decision, lest it fa

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