Zinke & Daines Defend Montana Coal Country, Blast DOI Regulations

Press Release

Today, the Department of the Interior (Interior) released its final rule to unjustly overhaul the royalty and valuation process for coal, oil, and gas production on federal and tribal lands. Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke and U.S. Senator Steve Daines blasted Interior for the regulation, which will make the process even more expensive for the Crow Tribe to mine their coal and make a living. The final rule becomes effective on January 1, 2017.

Zinke said, "As if Montana's coal workers haven't been on the chopping block enough already, this rule change from Interior makes it abundantly clear the Obama Administration has no interest in keeping coal viable, and they are willing to do whatever it takes before they leave office to kill thousands of jobs in Montana. DOI and the Obama Administration have no interest in keeping Montana's communities, schools, and infrastructure funded. This is why I will continue to fight for passage of the Certainty for States and Tribes Act, which Senator Daines and I recently introduced. The Royalty Policy Committee would have representatives from the state and tribes; it should be the entity that evaluates any changes to the current regulations, not the federal government who clearly has biases against sound science and fact."

Daines said: "This rule is bad for good-paying Montana energy jobs. Yet again, the Obama administration is disregarding meaningful input from folks who are impacted the most by their job-killing anti-energy agenda, including states and tribes."

"This ruling by the Department of Interior will only mean less jobs in Montana and fewer coal revenues. We have seen the Federal government mishandle our forests in Montana and now the forests are burning and our timber jobs have disappeared. The DOI will continue to mishandle coal leases until the states and tribes that have the coal can have some input on policies instead of listening to thousands of people who have no idea about what is going on here," said Mike Johnson, Business Agent, IUOE Local 400 in Billings.

The two lawmakers have long been advocates for Montana's coal industry and have pushed back on the Interior for changing the rules. In May, Daines and Zinke introduced the Certainty for States and Tribes Act in the House and Senate to reestablish a panel of local stakeholders to weigh in on coal projects on federal and Indian land.

The Certainty for States and Tribes Act:

Would reestablish the Royalty Policy Committee, including Governors of States, their appointees and Indian Tribes who produce federal minerals, to advise and inform the Secretary in the formation of policies and regulations; ensure greater transparency in creating royalty and leasing policy for mineral production from federal and tribal lands;
place a firm, reasonable timeline on the programmatic review of the federal coal leasing program to occur;
allow for existing lease applications (LBAs) and modifications (LBMs) who are under National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) review by the Department to move forward,
and ensure the federal coal lease program lease sales are conducted in a timely and consistent manner following completion of respective NEPA reviews.

Zinke was also successful in securing language in the FY2017 House Interior Appropriations bill to "defund" the rule, which would prevent Interior from spending money on the implementation of the regulation.

In February 2015, Daines successfully led more than a dozen Senate and House members in calling on Interior to allow the state of Montana, Montana tribes, union members and business owners more time to provide input on the Office of Natural Resource Revenue's proposed rule to reform royalty valuation for coal, oil and gas.

In a March 2015 Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing, Daines pressed Interior Secretary Jewell on the Office of Natural Resource Revenue's proposed rule to reform royalty valuation for coal, oil and gas.

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