September 9, 2025 - The U.S. House last week passed a resolution overturning Biden-era restrictions on resource extraction across millions of acres in eastern Montana, bringing Montana’s all-Republican delegation closer to stated goals of bolstering the state’s mining and energy sectors.

But conservation groups said the change — which needs approval in the U.S. Senate — reverses environmental gains and ignores local stakeholders

House Joint Resolution 104, carried by the state’s eastern Congressman, Rep. Troy Downing, passed on near-partisan lines, with all but one Republican in favor and all Democrats opposed.

“The Biden Administration’s outright ban on coal leasing in the Powder River Basin is an intolerable threat to domestic energy production, U.S. national security, and the prosperity of the communities I represent,” Downing said in a statement. “I’m proud to be leading the charge in the House to reverse the Miles City Field Office RMPA to improve access to the affordable, reliable energy that brings the American dream that much closer to hand for countless families in Montana and across the country. I appreciate the support and advocacy of my colleagues from the Treasure State in this fight, and I look forward to seeing this resolution pass the Senate and signed into law by President Trump.”

All four of Montana’s congressional delegates, all Republicans, support the resolution, with Sen. Steve Daines sponsoring companion legislation in the upper chamber. Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Tim Sheehy are cosponsors on their chambers’ respective bills.

The Miles City Resource Management Plan amendment prohibited future coal leasing in the Miles City field office district.

The bill was one of three passed by the House last Wednesday rescinding resource management plans on nearly 30 million acres of public land in Montana, North Dakota and Alaska.

Downing’s legislation overturns a rule issued by the Bureau of Land Management that halted future coal leasing on roughly 1.7 million acres of federal land in Montana’s Powder River Basin, which contains roughly a third of the nation’s coal reserves.

The record of decision for the Miles City Resource Management Plan amendment, released last November, provided for existing leases at two mines — Spring Creek and Rosebud — to continue for at least a decade, but the bureau said the rule came following analysis that coal markets would continue to decline and coal-fired plants were likely to close or be converted to utilize renewable energy.

“The approved RMP Amendment makes unavailable 1,745,040 acres of BLM administered coal from further consideration for leasing in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a proxy for climate change. The BLM would not accept new coal lease applications,” the decision said.

Last year the Bureau of Land Management said in 2022, the two mines had produced about two-thirds the coal they produced in 2007.

Meanwhile, the federal government earlier this year authorized an expansion for the Westmoreland Rosebud Mine, which fuels the Colstrip power plant, allowing it to extract roughly 70 million tons of coal and operate through 2039.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects U.S. coal production to drop from 610 million tons in 2022 to 450 million tons in 2040, and Western U.S. production to drop from 335 million tons to 224 million tons over the same period.

Coal taxes in Montana benefit public education in the state, with money going into a trust that funds public school construction and upgrades, infrastructure projects, housing and economic development, among other things.

In a letter sent to the Trump administration, Gov. Greg Gianforte urged the federal government to maximize the availability of federal coal in Montana to benefit national security, provide reliable energy and boost Montana’s educational systems.

“Under the Biden Administration, BLM’s proposal would have rendered Montana’s coal resources useless, depriving Montana schools and other institutions of a critical funding source,” Gianforte wrote. “Montana’s schools and public institutions need a good partner in BLM, and it is imperative that the agency embrace the opportunity to maximize the development opportunities for coal resources in Montana.

While industry groups and Montana politicians praised the passage of the bill conservation groups decried the move as a step backwards for environmental protections and criticized Congress’ vote as a workaround of the federal rule-making process.

“Congress just jumped head first down a slippery slope that creates a dangerous precedent that will surely backfire. Using the Congressional Review Act not only repeals the current management plan, which was carefully crafted by local leaders and stakeholders, but it puts at risk future efforts to responsibly manage public lands. It’s not just wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing access at risk here; it’s all decisions made at the local level,” said Frank Szollosi, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation, in a statement. “At a time when Montana’s public lands are facing numerous threats, land managers need flexibility and tools to respond, not more interference from Washington.”

Justin Meuse, government relations director at The Wilderness Society, said Congress was overturning decisions over land management in an “unprecedented way” and could expose “thousands of permits, leases and rights of way to legal challenge.”

But Daines emphasized that Montana’s economy was at the forefront of his decision to back the move.

“Joe Biden’s Miles City RMPA halts all future coal leasing in the region and will cause hardworking Montanans to lose their jobs,” Daines said in a statement. “It will also stifle our state’s growing economy and increase our dependence on foreign nations for coal and energy production. It’s critical that we remove this outdated and harmful plan.”

Downing’s office said overturning the resource management plan will keep roughly $46 million in coal tax revenue secure and generate $15 million in new federal energy revenue.