The Interior Department today moved to withdraw a Trump administration rule that would have lowered companies' royalty payments on publicly owned fossil fuels by millions of dollars each year.
A federal judge in Montana denied the Department of Energy’s request to dismiss landowners’ open meetings claims relating to the National Coal Council’s decision-making process.
(CN) Montana landowners who say the feds are shutting them out of coal-related decisions may pursue their open meeting claims against the Departement of Energy, a federal court in Montana ruled Tuesday.
Montana District Judge Brian Morris, an Obama appointee, allowed the claims to proceed following a legal battle between the Department of Energy and the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), a group that represents Montana ranchers and landowners, over the department’s decision-making process on coal-related issues.