Bureau of Land Management Press Release
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a competitive coal lease sale by sealed bid at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in the BLM-Utah State Office, Monument Conference Room, Suite 500, 440 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.
The BLM-Utah State Office published in the Federal Register a Notice of Federal Competitive Coal Lease Sale for parcels located approximately 10 miles southeast of Scofield, Utah. The Flat Canyon Coal Tract—a 2,692 acre area that contains approximately 42 million tons of recoverable coal and is adjacent to the Skyline mine, which contains other federal coal leases—will be offered for lease to the qualified high bidder of the highest cash amount. The high bid must meet or exceed the BLM’s fair market value estimate for the tract; the minimum bid for the tract is $100 per acre. This coal lease sale is being held in response to a lease by application submitted to the BLM by Canyon Fuel Company, LLC, on March 18, 1998.
Once a coal lease is issued, an annual rental payment of $3 per acre is required, along with a royalty payment of 12.5 percent of the value of coal produced by strip or auger mining methods and eight percent of the value of coal produced by underground mining methods. The Flat Canyon Coal Tract will be mined using underground methods.
The BLM administers approximately 700 million acres of subsurface federal mineral estate and shares revenues from coal leasing with the states where coal leasing occurs. More than a third of the nation’s coal comes from federal coal leases—many of which are in Utah.
Sealed bids must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or be hand-delivered to the address indicated above and must be received on or before 10:00 a.m. on the day of the sale—June 17, 2015. BLM-Utah accounts receivable will issue a receipt for each hand-delivered sealed bid. Any bid received after the time specified above will not be considered and will be returned. The outside of the sealed envelope containing the bid must clearly state that the envelope contains a bid for Coal Lease Sale UTU-77114 and is not to be opened before the date and hour of the sale.
For more information or to obtain further bidding instructions, please contact Jeff McKenzie at(801)539-4038. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to leave a message or question with the above individual. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Replies are provided during normal business hours.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s mission is to manage and conserve the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations under our mandate of multiple-use and sustained yield. In fiscal year 2014, the BLM generated $5.2 billion in receipts from public lands.