Powder River Basin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Powder River Basin is a geologic
structural basin A structural basin is a large-scale structural formation of rock strata formed by tectonic warping of previously flat-lying strata. They are geological depressions, the inverse of domes. Elongated structural basins are also known as synclines. ...
in southeast
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
and northeast
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive
coal reserves Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...
. The former hunting grounds of the
Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...
, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate. The basin is both a topographic drainage and geologic
structural basin A structural basin is a large-scale structural formation of rock strata formed by tectonic warping of previously flat-lying strata. They are geological depressions, the inverse of domes. Elongated structural basins are also known as synclines. ...
, drained by the Powder River,
Cheyenne River The Cheyenne River ( lkt, Wakpá Wašté; "Good River"), also written ''Chyone'', referring to the Cheyenne people who once lived there, is a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is approximately 2 ...
, Tongue River,
Bighorn River The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ban ...
, Little Missouri River,
Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself ...
, and their tributaries. The major cities in the area include
Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...
and
Sheridan, Wyoming Sheridan is a town in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County. The town is located halfway between Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 and 16. It is the principal town of the Sheridan, Wyoming, Micropol ...
and
Miles City, Montana Miles City ( chy, Ma'xemâhoévé'ho'eno) is a city in and the county seat of Custer County, Montana, United States. The population was 8,354 at the 2020 census. History After the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, the U.S. Army created fo ...
. In 2007, the region produced 436 million short tons (396 million tonnes) of coal, more than twice the production of second-place
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
, and more than the entire Appalachian region. The Powder River Basin is the largest coal-producing region in the United States. The region includes the
Black Thunder Coal Mine The Black Thunder Coal Mine is a surface coal mine in the U.S. state of Wyoming, located in the Powder River Basin which contains one of the largest deposits of coal in the world. Black Thunder is the second most productive mine in the United Sta ...
, the most productive in the United States, and
North Antelope Rochelle Mine The North Antelope Rochelle Mine is the largest Coal mining, coal mine in the world. Located in Campbell County, Wyoming, about south of Gillette, Wyoming, Gillette, it produced 85.3 million tons of coal in 2019. Peabody Energy opened the North ...
, the second most productive. In recent years, the region has become a major producer of natural gas, both conventional
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
and
coal-bed methane Coalbed methane (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, coal seam gas (CSG), or coal-mine methane (CMM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Au ...
.


Geologic history

The Powder River Basin contains a section of
Phanerozoic The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 538.8 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period, when anima ...
rocks up to thick, from
Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
to
Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
.


Cretaceous

The thickest section of the Powder River Basin is composed of
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
rocks, an overall regressive sequence of mostly marine shales and sandstones deposited in the
Western Interior Seaway The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses. The ancient sea, ...
.


Tertiary

The coal beds of the region began to form about 60 million years ago when the land began rising from a shallow sea. The rise of the
Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
uplift on the east and the Hartville uplift on the southeast side of the basin created the present outline of the Powder River Basin. When the coal beds were forming, the climate in the area was subtropical, averaging about of rainfall a year. For some 25 million years, the basin floor was covered with lakes and swamps. Because of the large area of the swamps, the organic material accumulated into peat bogs instead of being washed to the sea. Periodically the layers of peat were covered with sediments washed in from nearby mountains. Eventually the climate became drier and cooler. The basin filled with sediment and buried the peat under thousands of feet, compressing the layers of peat and forming coal. Over the last several million years, much of the overlying sediment has eroded away, leaving the coal seams near the surface.


Coal

Powder River Basin (PRB) coal is classified as "
sub-bituminous Sub-bituminous coal is a lower grade of coal that contains 35–45% carbon. The properties of this type are between those of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, and those of bituminous coal, the second-highest grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal i ...
" and contains an average of approximately 8,500 btu/lb, with low
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
. Contrast this with eastern,
Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
n
bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
containing an average of 12,500 btu/lb and high sulfur. PRB coal was essentially worthless until air pollution emissions from power plants (primarily sulfur dioxide, or "SO2") became a concern. A coal-fired plant designed to burn Appalachian coal must be modified to remove SO2 at a cost estimated in 1999 to be around $322 per ton of SO2. If it switched to burning PRB coal, the cost dropped to $113 per ton of SO2 removed. Removal is accomplished by installing scrubbers. The Powder River Basin is the largest
coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
region in the US, but most of the coal is buried too deeply to be economically accessible., page ix The Powder River Basin coal beds are shaped like elongated bowls and as mines expand from east to west in the Powder River Basin, they will be going "down the sides of the bowl". This means that the overburden (rock lying over the coal) will increase as will the stripping ratio (the ratio of rock that needs to be moved to produce a ton of coal). The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted a series of studies on the economic accessibility of coal in the major coal-producing regions of the country. The studies have typically found that only a small fraction of the coal will be economically accessible at the current price of $10.47/ton. In August 2008, the USGS issued an updated assessment of coal in the Powder River Basin. After considering stripping ratios and production costs, the USGS concluded that at the time of the economic evaluation, only 6% of the original resource, or 10.1 billion short tons of coal, was currently economically recoverable. At a price of $60/ton, roughly half (48%) of the coal is economic to produce. Increasing the price paid for coal can increase the amount of economically recoverable coal, but increasing the price of coal will also increase the production cost for the coal. Because coal is a solid, it cannot be produced from many scattered wells as oil and gas can be. Rather, coal has to be produced from mines that expand slowly by moving massive quantities of overburden.


Coal mining

Presently, 15 mines operate in the Powder River Basin with most of the active mining taking place in drainages of the
Cheyenne River The Cheyenne River ( lkt, Wakpá Wašté; "Good River"), also written ''Chyone'', referring to the Cheyenne people who once lived there, is a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is approximately 2 ...
. The US uses about 600 million tons of coal a year, with about 40% of the coal currently coming from the Powder River Basin. The amount of coal coming from the Powder River Basin has been increasing over the last 20 years. The mines in the Powder River Basin typically have less than 20 years of life remaining. Almost all of the coal in the Powder River Basin is federally-owned, and further mine expansions will require a series of federal and state approvals, as well as large investments in additional mine equipment to begin the excavations. The majority of the coal mined in the Powder River Basin is part of the
Fort Union Formation The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming, Montana, and parts of adjacent states. In the Powder River Basin, it contains important economic deposits of coal, uranium, and coalbed methane. ...
(
Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
), with the low sulfur and
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
content of the coal in the region making it very desirable. Coal supplies about a third of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
'
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
supplies. The Powder River Basin mines supply approximately 40% of the coal that fuels those stations (mainly east of the Rocky Mountains) for generating
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
.Rails cause utility fuel shortages, electricity rate hike
Rail Cure – August 2005
The mines work in areas where the stripping ratio is between 1:1 (i.e. one ton of rock for one ton of coal) and 3:1. As the mines expand the stripping ratio will increase. As more rock must be moved (using large electrically powered draglines and diesel and electric mining trucks) the production cost will also increase. The mines are largely non-union operations with a history of squelching labor activity.Ryan Driskell Tate, "Slow Violence and Hidden Injuries: The Work of Stripmining in the American West," ''Violence of Work: New Essays in Canadian and US Labour History'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020). According to historian Ryan Driskell Tate, surface mining in remote areas happened to reduce some of the "occupational togetherness" typically associated with coal miners working shoulder-to-shoulder
underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...
in
Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
. The environmental impact of mining on grass and
aquifers An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
has been a concern for surrounding
ranchers A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
who organized to resist new mines in the 1970s.Ryan Driskell Tate, "Places of Overburden: Strip Mining and Reclamation on the Northern Great Plains," ''The Greater Plains: Rethinking a Region's Environmental Histories'' (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2021).


Coal mining companies currently operating in the Powder River Basin

Southern Powder River Basin *
Arch Coal Arch Resources, previously known as Arch Coal, is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Resources is the se ...
( Black Thunder Mine, Coal Creek Mine) *
Black Hills Corporation Black Hills Corporation is a Rapid City, South Dakota diversified energy company that is an electric and gas utility in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The company sells power throughout the America ...
/
Wyodak Resources Development Black Hills Corporation is a Rapid City, South Dakota diversified energy company that is an electric and gas utility in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The company sells power throughout the America ...
(
Wyodak Mine The Wyodak mine is a coal mine in Wyodak, Wyoming, United States, located about east of Gillette in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. Description The operation is an open pit mine that utilizes a truck and shovel mining method to produce a l ...
) *
Contura Energy Alpha Metallurgical Resources, formerly Contura Energy (January 2021), is a leading coal supplier with underground and surface coal mining complexes across Northern and Central Appalachia. Contura owns large coal basins in Pennsylvania, Virginia ...
( Belle Ayr Mine, Eagle Butte Mine) * Cloud Peak Energy (
Antelope Mine Antelope Mine is a village in the Kezi district of the province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. It is located about 114 km south of Bulawayo and 14 km south of Kezi. The village was established in an area once rich in wildlife and was named afte ...
, Cordero Rojo Mine) *
Kiewit Corporation Kiewit Corporation is an American privately held construction company based in Omaha, Nebraska founded in 1884. In 2021, it was ranked 243rd on the Fortune 500. Privately held, it is one of the largest construction and engineering organizations ...
(
Buckskin Mine Buckskin may refer to: __NOTOC__ Leather *Buckskin (leather), leather made of buck (i.e. deer) hide * Buckskins, an outfit of buckskin leather Horses *Buckskin (horse), a body color of horses similar to buckskin leather, the animals also have a bla ...
) *
Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...
(
North Antelope Rochelle Mine The North Antelope Rochelle Mine is the largest Coal mining, coal mine in the world. Located in Campbell County, Wyoming, about south of Gillette, Wyoming, Gillette, it produced 85.3 million tons of coal in 2019. Peabody Energy opened the North ...
,
Caballo Mine Caballo may refer to: Places * Caballo, New Mexico * Caballo Island (in the Philippines) * Caballo Lake * Caballo Mountain, Spain * Caballo Mountains The Caballo Mountains, (Spanish: "horse") are a mountain range located in Sierra and Doñ ...
,
Rawhide Mine The Rawhide Mine is a coal mine located 10 miles (16.1 km) north of Gillette, Wyoming in the United States in the coal-rich Powder River Basin. The mine is an open pit mine that utilizes a combination of cast blast/dozer push and truck/shove ...
) *
Western Fuels Association The Western Fuels Association is a $400 million consortium of coal suppliers and coal-fired utilities based in Westminster, Colorado. Western Fuels Association supplies coal and transportation services to consumer-owned electric utilities in t ...
( Dry Fork Mine) Northern Powder River Basin * Lighthouse Resources (
Decker Mine Decker can refer to: Names * Decker (surname) Places ;Antarctica *Decker Glacier ;Canada * Decker, Manitoba *Decker Lake (British Columbia), a lake near the town of Burns Lake, British Columbia *Decker Lake, British Columbia, a community on tha ...
) * Cloud Peak Energy (Spring Creek) *
Westmoreland Coal Company Westmoreland or Westmorland may refer to: Places *Westmoreland County, New South Wales, Australia *Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada *Westmorland Parish, New Brunswick, Canada *Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica *Westmorland, New Zealand, a subu ...
( Absaloka Mine,
Rosebud Mine Rosebud may refer to: * Rose bud, the bud of a rose flower Arts * The name of Jerry Garcia's guitar from 1990 until his death in 1995. * In the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', the last words of Charles Foster Kane and an overall plot device. * "Ros ...
) In June 2019,
Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...
and
Arch Coal Arch Resources, previously known as Arch Coal, is an American coal mining and processing company. The company mines, processes, and markets bituminous and sub-bituminous coal with low sulfur content in the United States. Arch Resources is the se ...
announced a joint venture for their combined Powder River Basin assets.


Power plants fueled from Powder River Basin coal (incomplete list)

* James H. Miller Generating Station (Jefferson, Alabama) *
Flint Creek Power Plant Flint Creek Power Plant is a base load, coal fired, electric power, electrical power station located west of Gentry, Arkansas in Benton County, Arkansas. The lone unit uses coal mined from the Powder River Basin shipped via Kansas City Southern ...
American Electric Power American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest gen ...
(Arkansas) *
Independence Power Plant Independence Power Plant is a 1,678-megawatt coal-fired base load power plant near Newark, Arkansas. The plant has two units, rated at 850 MWe each, that came online in 1983 and 1984. The plant is owned in part by Entergy Arkansas. It has a 305- ...
-
Entergy Entergy Corporation is a Fortune 500 integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations in the Deep South of the United States. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and ge ...
(
Newark, Arkansas Newark is a city in Independence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,180 at the 2020 census. The local high school has won three basketball state championships, two quiz bowl state titles, and one softball state championship. T ...
)
*
White Bluff Power Plant The White Bluff Power Plant is a 1,800.0-megawatt ( MW) coal-fired power station operated by Entergy Arkansas in Barraque Township, Arkansas. The plant is owned and operated by Entergy and has one of the tallest chimneys in the world at , whi ...
-
Entergy Entergy Corporation is a Fortune 500 integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations in the Deep South of the United States. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and ge ...
(
Redfield, Arkansas Redfield is a small city in the Pine Bluff metropolitan area of northwestern Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city is situated on the Union Pacific Railway and is approximately south of Little Rock, the state capital. As ...
) * Plum Point Energy Station,
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in ener ...
(Osceola, Arkansas) *
Pawnee Station Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska ...
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
(Colorado) *
Comanche Station ''Comanche Station'' is a 1960 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. The film was the last of Boetticher's late 1950s ''Ranown Cycle''. It was filmed in the Eastern Sierra area of Central Ca ...
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
(Colorado) * Rawhide Energy Station, Wellington, (Colorado) * Robert W Scherer Power Plant
Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolida ...
(Georgia) * Newton Power Plant
Ameren Ameren Corporation is an American power company created December 31, 1997, by the merger of St. Louis, Missouri's Union Electric Company (formerly NYSE: UEP) and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company (CIPSCO Inc. holding, form ...
,
Newton, Illinois Newton is a city in and the county seat of Jasper County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census, down from 3,069 at the 2000 census. Newton is home to a large coal-fired power plant operated by Illinois Power Gen ...
*
Joppa Generating Station Joppa (a latinization of the 4th century Greek name, Ἰόππη) appears in the Bible as the name of the Israeli city of Jaffa. Joppa may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Joppa, Edinburgh, in the eastern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland ...
, Vistra Energy - (Joppa, Illinois) * Warrick Power Plant (Newburgh, Indiana) * Jeffrey Energy Center (Kansas) * Big Cajun II – (New Roads, Louisiana) * Eckert Power Plant – (
Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...
) * Erickson Power Plant – (
Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...
) *
Monroe Power Plant The Monroe Power Plant is a coal-fired power plant located in Monroe, Michigan, on the western shore of Lake Erie. It is owned by the DTE Energy Electric Company, a subsidiary of DTE Energy. The plant was constructed in the early 1970s and bega ...
Detroit Edison DTE Electric Company (formerly The Detroit Edison Company) was founded in 1886. DTE Electric's power generation portfolio includes renewable energy, but is primarily generated by fossil fuels. In 2021, 67.32% of electricity generated by DTE came ...
(
Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomo ...
) *
St. Clair Power Plant The Saint Clair Power Plant was a major coal- and oil-fired power plant owned by DTE Electric, a subsidiary of DTE Energy. It was located in St. Clair County, Michigan, on the west bank of St. Clair River. The plant was across M-29 from th ...
Detroit Edison DTE Electric Company (formerly The Detroit Edison Company) was founded in 1886. DTE Electric's power generation portfolio includes renewable energy, but is primarily generated by fossil fuels. In 2021, 67.32% of electricity generated by DTE came ...
– (
East China, Michigan East China Township is a charter township of St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,788 at the 2010 Census. History The township was named after China Township, Michigan. Geography According to the United States C ...
) *
Allen S. King Plant Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univer ...
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
(Minnesota) * Sherburne County (Sherco) Plant
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
(Minnesota) * Sikeston Power Plant (Sikeston, Missouri) * Gerald Gentleman Station
Nebraska Public Power District Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is the largest electric utility in the state of Nebraska, serving all or parts of 84 (of 93) counties. It was formed on January 1, 1970, when Consumers Public Power District, Platte Valley Public Power and Irri ...
(Nebraska) *
Omaha Public Power District Omaha Public Power District, or OPPD, is a public electric utility in the state of Nebraska. It is a publicly owned electric utility in the United States, serving more than 855,000 people in Omaha and 13 surrounding counties in southeast Nebrask ...
– (Omaha, NE) (Nebraska City, Nebraska) * GRECVinita, OK – (
Chouteau, Oklahoma Chouteau is the second-largest town in Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,097 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6 percent over the figure of 1,931 recorded in 2000. Geography Chouteau is located at . According to th ...
) * J. Robert Welsh Power Plant
American Electric Power American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation's largest gen ...
(Texas) *
Fayette Power Project The Fayette Power Project, also known as Sam Seymour Power Plant, is a coal-fired power plant located near La Grange, Texas in Fayette County, Texas. It is owned by Austin Energy and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and operated by LCRA ...
– (
La Grange, Texas La Grange ( ) is a city in Fayette County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. La Grange is in the center of the Texas-German belt. The population was 4,391 at the 2020 census, and in 2018 the estimated population was 4,632. La Grange ...
) * Harrington Station
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
(Texas) * Tolk Station – Xcel Energy (Texas) * W. A. Parish Station
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in ener ...
(Texas) *
Limestone Station Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when t ...
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in ener ...
(Texas) *
Centralia Power Plant Centralia Big Hanaford power plant is a major coal-fired power plant supplemented with newer natural-gas-fired units. It is located east of Centralia, Washington, United States in Lewis County. It is the only commercial coal-fired power plant in t ...
(Centralia, Washington) *
Edgewater Generating Station Edgewater Generating Station is a 380 megawatt (megawatt, MW) Fossil fuel power station#Coal, coal power plant located on the south side of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, whose waters are used to provide cooling. It provides ...
, Sheboygan, Wisconsin *
Dry Fork Station Dry or dryness most often refers to: * Lack of rainfall, which may refer to **Arid regions **Drought * Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages * Dry humor, deadpan * Dryness (medical) * ...
- Gillette, Wyoming * Laramie River Station – (Wheatland, Wyoming) * Brandon Generating Station
Manitoba Hydro The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board, operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Boa ...
(Brandon, Manitoba)


Petroleum


Oil and gas

The Powder River Basin also contains major deposits of
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
, including the giant
Salt Creek Oil Field The Salt Creek Oil Field is located in Natrona County, Wyoming. By 1970, more oil had been produced by this field than any other in the Rocky Mountains region and accounted for 20 percent of the total production in Wyoming.Barlow and Haun, p. ...
. The oil and gas are produced from rocks ranging from Pennsylvanian to
Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
, but most comes from sandstones in the thick section of
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
rocks. There is a recent resurgence in oil and gas production as a result of horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...
. This resurgence is occurring mainly in the Wyoming portion of the basin, which is historically known as the source of the basin's oil. In 2009, a low of 38,000 barrels of oil per day were produced in the basin. That number has risen dramatically to 78,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2014. The Bell Creek Field is a
Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...
stratigraphic trap In petroleum geology, a trap is a geological structure affecting the reservoir rock and caprock of a petroleum system allowing the accumulation of hydrocarbons in a reservoir. Traps can be of two types: stratigraphic or structural. Structural trap ...
in the Muddy
Sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
. Discovered in 1967 by the Exeter Drilling Co. No. 33-1 Federal-McCarrell well, which found 27 feet of pay at a depth of 4500 ft.


Coalbed methane

Recent controversy surrounds the extensive coalbed methane extraction in the region. In the last decade, nearly 7000 such wells have been drilled. An extensive network of gas pipelines connecting these wells has been built, along with a series of pressurization plants, as well as power lines to provide electricity to operate the system. In addition, thousands of miles of new access roads have been constructed. Extracting the gas requires that water be pumped to the surface to release gas trapped in the coal seam. While some of the water is successfully utilized in agriculture production such as livestock water and crop irrigation, some waters are naturally high in salinity and
sodium adsorption ratio The Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is an irrigation water quality parameter used in the management of sodium-affected soils. It is an indicator of the suitability of water for use in agricultural irrigation, as determined from the concentrations of t ...
. There has been controversy on how to best manage these saline waters. In 2007, Powder River Basin coalbed field produced 442 billion cubic feet of gas, making the field the 3rd largest source of natural gas in the United States.


Uranium

The region also contains major deposits of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
, contained in sandstones. (See ''
Uranium mining in Wyoming Uranium mining in Wyoming was formerly a much larger industry than it is today. Wyoming once had many operating uranium mines, and still has the largest known uranium ore reserves of any state in the U.S. At the end of 2008, the state had estimate ...
''). The
Wasatch Formation The Wasatch Formation (Tw)Shroba & Scott, 2001, p.3 is an extensive highly fossiliferous geologic formation stretching across several basins in Idaho, Montana Wyoming, Utah and western Colorado.Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
) contains the uranium or
"roll front"
type deposits found in the
Pumpkin Buttes A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
District.
Cameco Corporation Cameco Corporation (formerly Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation) is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2015, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 18 ...
subsidiary Power Resources Inc. operates uranium mines in the basin.


Transportation

In Spring 2005, coal extracted from the mines would retail at the mines for around $5 a ton. However, power stations and plants in the eastern United States were paying over $30 a ton – the difference caused by the cost of transportation. (In October 2008, the mine-mouth price of Powder River Basin coal was closer to $15 per ton.) To transport coal from the basin, there is a joint railway line owned by the
BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
and the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
running the length of the southern section of the Powder River Basin. A third railroad, the
Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Before its purchase, it was the largest Class II railroad in the United States, operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in ...
, faced strong resistance from many parties for its attempts to extend its rail line into the coal mining area, but while the plan was eventually approved by regulating authorities, the project was abandoned after the railroad was purchased by the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
. In 2013, five coal export terminals were being proposed in the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
to export coal from the Powder River Basin to Asian markets. As of February 2016, some coal terminal proposals had been withdrawn, leaving two with pending applications. The withdrawals were ascribed to loss of demand and consequent lower coal prices.


History

Originally a single track
Burlington Northern Railway The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...
line built in stages from 1972 to 1979, the rail line ran south from Donkey Creek Junction in the north to Caballo, Wyoming; and then for to
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
in Converse County. The
Chicago and North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...
ran close to the northern section, as did the Union Pacific at Caballo. In 1982 C&NW and the UP formed Western Railroad Properties, Inc. (WRPI), to acquire half interest in the Burlington Northern coal line from Shawnee Junction to Coal Creek Junction. On December 15, 1986 WPRI purchased more of BN line from Coal Creek Junction to East Caballo Junction. Beginning June 27, 1983 WPRI constructed of new railroad from Shawnee Junction. to Shawnee, rebuilt of C&NW line from Shawnee to Crandall and of new railroad from Crandall to Joyce, Nebraska. The first commercial train ran on August 16, 1984. By 1985, the line was single track for almost its entire length, and it was handling 19 million tons of coal. The implementation of the second stage of the
Clean Air Act (1990) The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the United States' primary federal air quality law, intended to reduce and control air pollution nationwide. Initially enacted in 1963 and amended many times since, it is one of the United States' first and most inf ...
caused demand for clean coal to rise quickly. The C&NW struggled to upgrade capacity to dual track, resulting in numerous failures on the line in 1994, and eventually Union Pacific's purchase of C&NW in 1995. The UP spent $855 million over the next five years expanding capacity over its entire network to handle coal shipments from the PRB. By 2005 the Joint Line capacity had grown to handle an all-time record 325 million tons, and was either dual or three track capacity for its entire length. Due to various trackage and locomotive failures on the Joint Line in late 2004 and early 2005, the line failed to deliver the amount of contracted coal supplies, and electricity rates increased by 15 percent. Coal customers threatened to evaluate alternate sources of energy and transportation, including the
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation The Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) is an electrical generation and distribution cooperative founded in 1949 and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. It sells wholesale energy to 17 member cooperatives serving 500,000 custome ...
. As a result, the expansion of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad line was approved by the
Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...
. In 2006 UP and BNSF announced a $100 million investment to provide three track capacity for the entire length of the Joint Line plus a fourth track added over the steepest sections, including Logan Hill. These improvements will enable the Joint Line to handle over 400 million tons of coal. In 2006, Union Pacific set a record by hauling 194 million tons of coal – an 8% increase compared with 2005 tonnage. The company achieved this by increasing train size, with trains averaging more than 15,000 tons, a 200-ton weight increase compared with fourth-quarter 2005's average. In early 2016 it was reported that 80 to 100 trains of coal were being shipped from the Powder river basin every day. In 2019 train loadings averaged about 50 per day.


See also

*
High Plains (United States) The High Plains are a subregion of the Great Plains, mainly in the Western United States, but also partly in the Midwest states of Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, generally encompassing the western part of the Great Plains before the regi ...
*
Thunder Basin National Grassland The Thunder Basin National Grassland is located in northeastern Wyoming in the Powder River Basin between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills. The Grassland ranges in elevation from , and the climate is semi-arid. The Grassland provides o ...


Notes


External links


Bell Creek CO2 Development Update

Bell Creek Integrated CO2 EOR and Storage Project

Integrating CO2 EOR and CO2 Storage in the Bell Creek Field

Bell Creek CO2 EOR and CO2 Storage Demonstration Project, Montana



Geological history


* ttps://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo38114 Assessment of Coal Geology, Resources, and Reserves in the Montana Powder River Basin
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

IEEFA article
with a recent (March 2019) list of power plants supplied from the Powder River Basin. {{Authority control Coal mining regions in the United States Geology of Wyoming Geography of Montana Geography of Wyoming Economic geology Geology of the Rocky Mountains Geology of Montana Sedimentary basins of North America Mining in Montana Mining in Wyoming