HJRES130

Public Law 119-51, H.J. Res. 130, was signed into law on December 11, 2025. This joint resolution explicitly disapproves and nullifies the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rule issued on November 20, 2024, which had amended the 2015 resource management plan for the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming to prohibit future federal coal leasing. As a result, the 2015 RMP is now in effect as it was prior to the 2024 amendment, meaning federal coal in the Buffalo Field Office is available for leasing. This law does not directly authorize or appropriate any specific funding. Instead, it removes a regulatory barrier that would have prevented future coal leasing. The financial impact stems from the continued ability of coal mining companies to bid on and extract federal coal resources in the specified area. The mechanism is regulatory relief, allowing existing market dynamics for coal to continue without the constraint of the nullified BLM rule. Structural beneficiaries of this law are coal mining companies with operations or interests in federal lands, particularly those that might have sought leases in the Buffalo Field Office area. Companies like Arch Resources, Peabody Energy ($BTU), and Consol Energy, which are major U.S. coal producers, could benefit from the sustained availability of federal coal leases. The law ensures a continued supply of federal coal, which is a critical input for the energy sector. Given that this bill has already been signed into law, there are no further legislative steps remaining for H.J. Res. 130. The regulatory landscape for federal coal leasing in the Buffalo Field Office has been definitively set back to the pre-November 2024 status.