A Navajo-owned mining firm just bid less than 1¢ per ton for federal coal in Montana in what’s being called the biggest US coal sale in more than a decade. (AP News)
The deal: Navajo Transitional Energy Co. offered $186K for 167M tons in the Powder River Basin—a fraction of the $1.10-per-ton price Peabody paid for nearby coal in 2012. NTEC’s was the only bid submitted.
The offer reflects coal’s steep decline: Utilities are phasing out plants that burn it, and global demand is uncertain as ports and overseas buyers shift toward cleaner energy.
Even so, the Trump administration has pushed to reopen public land sales for coal, reversing Obama- and Biden-era limits—though economists say many of these new leases are unlikely to ever be mined.