Under Trump, Coal Mining Gets New Life on U.S. Lands
In February, even before the Senate confirmed Mr. Zinke to his new post, Mr. Reavey of Cloud Peak was meeting
at the Interior Department headquarters in Washington with President Trump’s political appointees.
Elected to the House in 2014, Mr. Zinke received $14,000 in campaign donations from the company
that owns BNSF Railway, the chief transporter of coal in the Powder River Basin, as well as a total of $26,000 from Cloud Peak, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, three of the nation’s largest coal companies.
“Our greatest treasures are public lands,” Mr. Zinke said in a speech.
“They are liars, and they know it,” Mr. Reavey, the Cloud Peak lobbyist, said of
those who suggested the industry was not paying its fair share in royalties.
