April 11, 2025 - On Tuesday, April 8, Governor Mark Gordon joined President Donald Trump, Cabinet Secretaries Doug Burgum and Chris Wright, Wyoming’s Congressional Delegation and energy industry leaders in the East Room of the White House for the signing of Executive Orders to strengthen the coal industry in Wyoming.

According to the Governor’s Office, the President’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Orders direct agencies to remove barriers to coal mining on federal lands and both streamline and prioritize coal leasing. The administration has also designated coal as a “mineral” to accelerate the permitting process for new mines on federal lands. 

“What a great day for clean, beautiful Wyoming coal!” Gordon said via Facebook.

In response to the Executive Orders, the Bureau of Land Management announced its plan to reopen federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in eastern Montana and Wyoming – the largest coal-producing region in the U.S.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the Cowboy State is the nation’s top coal producer. According to the EIA, Wyoming produced over 244 million short tons of coal in 2022, equal to about 41.2% of the total U.S. coal production that year.

Over the past two decades, the production of coal has declined across the U.S. due to continued competition with natural gas and renewable energy, the EIA wrote on its website. The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) reported that only 15% of energy generated in the U.S. now comes from coal, less than wind and solar, which accounts for 17%.

Governor Gordon noted that the coal industry supports approximately 5,000 direct jobs in Wyoming, and that the state supplies coal for electricity for almost 50% of the mainland U.S.

“I thank President Trump for his work in freeing our country from the unnecessarily burdensome regulations imposed on the coal industry by the Biden Administration,” Gordon said via press release.

The Executive Orders also promotes coal technology exports and the development of coal technologies, per the Governor’s Office press release. 

During a press event in January, Gordon expressed his intent to pursue using carbon reserves to invigorate mineral development, since Wyoming is one of the largest producers of CO2. The Wyoming Legislature wrote in its Maximizing Wyoming’s Energy Resources document that coal-fired power plants can, with technology retrofits and pipeline connections, capture and sell CO2 to CO2-EOR energy operators. CO2-EOR is the process of injecting CO2 into the ground to increase mineral production.

“While the Executive Orders are a great first step, the real focus must not only be extending the life of coal-fired generating plants nearing retirement, but to actually pave the way to building new power plants,” Governor Gordon added. “These are essential to our future. Wyoming is ready to lead the way and be a partner in that process.”