Coal sale nets bid of less than penny a ton

A Navajo tribe-owned company bid $186,000 to lease 167 million tons of coal on federal lands in southeastern Montana on Monday in the biggest U.S. coal sale in more than a decade.

- BY MATTHEW BROWN

The offer from the Navajo Transitional Energy Co., or NTEC, equates to one-tenth of a penny per ton, underscoring coal's diminished value even as President Trump pushes to mine and burn more of the heavily polluting fuel.

Federal officials did not immediately say if they would accept the offer. It was the only bid received. Two NTEC representatives attended the sale at the Bureau of Land Management local office in Billings, Mont. They declined to comment after it was over.

At the last successful government lease sale in the region, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy paid $793 million, or $1.10 per ton, for 721 million tons of coal in Wyoming.

It's uncertain how much demand there will be for the coal offered Monday next to NTEC's Spring Creek Mine near Decker, Mont.