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Approximately 40% of the coal produced in the US comes from federal lands, with the majority coming from the Powder River Basin states of Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah as well as New Mexico.
Cloud Peak Energy CEO Colin Marshall told Fox News: “The administration has chosen to pander to special interest groups and do their bidding.
“We are disappointed that after a robust set of ‘listening sessions’ on the coal leasing program last summer in which thousands of people across the West, from working class Americans to governors, very clearly explained how important the coal leasing program is to their well-being.”
Cloud Peak Energy paid $US354 million in taxes and royalties to federal, state and local governments in 2014, Marshall said.
“For the same year, we paid an additional $69 million for leases for future production. For the same year, our profit was $79 million,” he said.
