ROCK SPRINGS – A rapid response event for those laid off by Black Butte Coal Company takes place at 3 p.m. today at the Rock Springs Workforce Center at the White Mountain Mall, Gov. Mark Gordon said today.
Gordon issued a statement about the layoffs, blaming the situation on President Joe Biden’s Administration and a refusal to approve an expansion on the mine. Gordon claims the application “languishing before the Department of the Interior and the Office of Surface Mining and Environmental Enforcement (OSMRE) for years.”
“I brought this to the attention of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and the Acting Director of OSMRE in April, and talked to Secretary Haaland in November about the possibility of layoffs. The mine has gone through rounds of environmental reviews and Interior continues to throw up additional paper obstacles,” Gordon said.
For Gordon, this is about coal and said the coal could be used at the Jim Bridger Power Plant as part of its plan to use carbon capture.
“Yet, the Department of Interior prefers to lay off Wyoming workers rather than allow the mining of additional coal reserves within an already existing permit,” Gordon said.
