Proposed Wyoming rules for coal mining may fill a void in the Cowboy State created by the Trump administration’s push for deregulation within the industry, the Casper Star Tribune reported. The federal agency that oversees mining and reclamation is poised to change its position on self-bonding — a practice allowing firms to post IOU’s based on the strength of their balance sheets in lieu of cash or insurance for post-mining cleanup costs. The administration is considering whether to halt proposed Obama-era rules that discourage self-bonding. Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Environmental Quality is nearly finished with a preliminary update to state regulations, including self-bonding, said Keith Guille, spokesman for the department. Those rules have not been released, but a draft for public input is expected next week, he said. “From our standpoint, self-bonding still has a place, but what that will look like, that is what we are working on,” he said. “Self-bonding is not the only one we are looking at. We need to look at all the financial rules and see what needs to be changed.” A Department of the Interior report released last week stated limiting self-bonding is an overly burdensome rule on the industry, one that could make it difficult for coal companies to continue operating. Whether coal companies should be self-bonded became a key point of contention during the coal bankruptcy period of 2015 and 2016, when Wyoming’s largest coal companies filed for chapter 11, laid off workers and reduced production. Environmental groups argued that companies in a weakening coal sector might eventually walk out on reclamation obligations in Wyoming and the tab could fall on the taxpayer.
