A train loaded with newly mined coal near Gillette, Wyoming. Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA
It’s been too long since we last asked this question that had been a mainstay in these pages, but today we have to ask it of Wyoming, based on this story:
Wyoming stands up for coal with threat to sue states that refuse to buy it
Republican governor says measure sends message that Wyoming is ‘prepared to bring litigation to protect her interests’
Wyoming is faced by a transition to renewable energy that’s gathering pace across America, but it has now come up with a novel and controversial plan to protect its mining industry – sue other states that refuse to take its coal.
A new state law has created a $1.2m fund to be used by Wyoming’s governor to take legal action against other states that opt to power themselves with clean energy such as solar and wind, in order to meet targets to tackle the climate crisis, rather than burn Wyoming’s coal.
Wyoming is America’s largest coal-producing state, digging up nearly 40% of the coal produced nationally each year. The state is heavily dependent upon revenues from mining to run basic services and as it produces 14 times more energy than it consumes, selling coal to other states is a vital source of income.
The measure sends a message that Wyoming is “prepared to bring litigation to protect her interests,” said a spokesman for Mark Gordon, the Republican governor of the deeply conservative state, which strongly backed Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections…
Read the whole article here.
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