Coal

The expansion of an underground coal mine in central Montana is on pause amid legal challenges from conservation groups that say regulators failed to fully consider environmental impacts.

NorthWestern Energy announced this month that it’s acquiring co-owner Avista Utilities’ stake in the Colstrip coal-fired power plant. Colstrip's mayor says it's a relief, but environmentalists say it's a step in the wrong direction.

House Bill 8 would authorize state loans for local projects and use the coal-severance tax, or taxes collected on coal mined in Montana, to back those loans.

Underground coal seams can burn unnoticed for years. They can also spark raging wildfires. Funding to extinguish them is limited, but a mapping effort is underway to plot the smoldering coordinates.

Talen representatives say they don’t expect restructuring to affect operations at the Colstrip coal-fired power plant, which the company owns a 30% share in.

Marathon Digital Holdings says it will move its mining servers away from the plant in Hardin to locations where it can tap non-carbon-emitting power.

The court ruled that federal regulators who authorized the expansion of the Rosebud Mine near Colstrip failed to take a “hard look” at the environmental impacts in the same way they did the economic benefits.

A new report shows groundwater levels at some sites in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin have dropped by an average of about 90 feet due to natural gas production.

Canada's plan to ban coal exports could hurt mines in Montana.