Notice2026-04731
Public Hearing and Request for Comment on the Maximum Economic Recovery, Fair Market Value, and Review of Environmental Analysis (EA), for the Ramaco Resources, LLC (Ramaco) Proposed Federal Coal Lease-by-Application WVES106738235, Mingo and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia
Primary source
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Published
March 11, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) announce the availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for public review for the proposed coal lease-by-application (LBA) for Ramaco Resources, LLC (Ramaco) application WVES106738235, in Mingo and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia. The BLM and OSMRE also announce that a public hearing will be held to discuss the EA analysis, and to receive comments on Fair Market Value (FMV) and the maximum economic recovery (MER) of the tracts proposed to be offered for lease, as well as on factors that may affect the FMV and MER determinations. At the hearing, the BLM will provide information on how the government determines the FMV and MER of the coal resources contained in the proposed LBA lease tracts. The BLM and OSMRE take these actions in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended; the Mineral Leasing Act, as amended; and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, and the Department's implementing coal leasing regulations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11985-11987]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-04731]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
[A2407-014-004-065516, #O2509-014-004-125222; LLHQ/State#######]
Public Hearing and Request for Comment on the Maximum Economic
Recovery, Fair Market Value, and Review of Environmental Analysis (EA),
for the Ramaco Resources, LLC (Ramaco) Proposed Federal Coal Lease-by-
Application WVES106738235, Mingo and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; notice of public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) announce the availability of
an Environmental Assessment (EA) for public review for the proposed
coal lease-by-application (LBA) for Ramaco Resources, LLC (Ramaco)
application WVES106738235, in Mingo and Wyoming Counties, West
Virginia. The BLM and OSMRE also announce that a public hearing will be
held to discuss the EA analysis, and to receive comments on Fair Market
Value (FMV) and the maximum economic recovery (MER) of the tracts
proposed to be offered for lease, as well as on factors that may affect
the FMV and MER determinations. At the hearing, the BLM will provide
information on how the government determines the FMV and MER of the
coal resources contained in the proposed LBA lease tracts.
The BLM and OSMRE take these actions in compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended; the Mineral
Leasing Act, as amended; and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended, and the Department's implementing coal leasing
regulations.
DATES: A public hearing will be held and announced via the BLM website
and the project's e-Planning page (<a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510</a>), at a future time. The public hearing will also
be announced at least 14 days prior, in the newspaper(s).
ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the Larry Joe Harless
Community Center, 202 Larry Joe Harless Drive, Gilbert, WV 25621. Any
updates to the public hearing will be provided through the e-Planning
project website, newspaper notices and a news release.
The EA and associated documents are available for review on the BLM
project website at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510</a>.
Written and oral comments related to FMV and MER will be accepted
at the public hearing. The EA will also be available for review.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela Mathis, BLM Northeastern States
District Manager, telephone: 414-297-4401; address: 250 E Wisconsin
Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#452729281a20361a37242824262a2c2b353031052729286b222a33"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c3a1afae9ca6b09cb1a2aea2a0acaaadb3b6b783a1afaeeda4acb5">[email protected]</span></a>.
Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting
Ms. Mathis. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay
services offered within their country to make international calls to
the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Ramaco Resources, LLC is a subsidiary of
Ramaco Resources, Inc, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ).
The BLM Northeastern States District Office received a Federal coal
LBA to expand current underground mining operations located on private
property in Mingo and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia. Ramaco proposes
to expand both its Michael Powellton Deep Mine and Eagle Mine (Ramaco
existing operations) from privately-owned mineral into federal minerals
to produce clean coal, metallurgical, used for steelmaking.
The LBA project boundary includes up to and not more than 4,382
acres for the expansion of the Ramaco existing operations, containing
approximately 4.55 million saleable Federal coal tons, underlying
surface lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as
part of the R.D. Bailey Lake Project, which encompasses the R.D. Bailey
Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) managed by the West Virginia
Department of Natural Resources (WVDNR). The coal seams to be mined are
the Powellton, Eagle, and 2-Gas coal seams, with the nearest proposed
mining at 14,600 feet (2.77 miles) horizontally from and 640 feet
vertically above the R.D. Bailey Lake pool.
The proposed mining area will be accessed from Ramaco's existing,
adjacent operations, limiting the surface disturbances from the
proposed LBA to the use of existing access roads inside the R.D. Bailey
Lake Project and the construction of eight (8) new horizontal
ventilation punchouts. Each of the 8 ventilation punchouts would
constitute approximately 0.25 acres of surface
[[Page 11986]]
disturbance, with a combined total of 2 acres of surface disturbance.
The BLM has determined that an EA is warranted for this proposed
LBA.
The tracts for the proposed LBA, underlying USACE managed Federal
surface property in Mingo & Wyoming Counties, WV, described from deeds
included in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers R.D. Bailey Lake Project
are included in the proposed lease as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deed Proposed
Tract ID acres lease acres
------------------------------------------------------------------------
714............................................ 373.05 242.27
734............................................ 177.61 21.20
736............................................ 190.25 80.40
737............................................ 127.66 94.06
775-2.......................................... 146.84 13.44
834............................................ 82.05 82.05
875-1.......................................... 352.73 98.35
1600........................................... 1,418.57 1,349.83
1601........................................... 604.88 604.88
1675........................................... 1,747.26 1,613.02
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The proposed lease areas described aggregate 4,199.5 acres,
according to the official plats of the surveys, on file with the BLM.
A detailed Metes and Bounds description of the lease boundary is
shown on the project map found at the BLM ePlanning website, located
at: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2041028/510</a>.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The purpose of this action is to support the responsible
development of coal resources of metallurgical grade in southern West
Virginia by responding to a federal coal lease application submitted by
Ramaco to access a total of up to 4,382 project acres of federal lands
with surface lands managed by the USACE in Mingo and Wyoming Counties,
West Virginia. The approval of the lease application would enable the
recovery of an estimated 4.55 million tons of saleable federal
metallurgical coal and meet the intent of Executive Order 14241,
``Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production,'' issued
on March 20, 2025.
The need is established by the BLM's responsibility under the
Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (MLA), the Mineral Leasing Act
for Acquired Lands of 1947, as amended, and the Federal Coal Leasing
Amendments Act of 1976, as amended. These laws and their implementing
regulations require the BLM to respond to federal coal lease
applications, including the one submitted by Ramaco (WVES106738235),
which would provide access to federal coal reserves via adjacent to
existing private facilities.
Conformance With the Land Use Plan (LUP)
The USACE R.D. Bailey Lake West Virginia Master Plan approved
August 2011, resource use objective 7 allows the extraction of minerals
within the Project with a project design that would avoid or minimize
impacts to sensitive environmental, natural, and recreational
resources.
Proposed Action and Alternatives
The Proposed Action is to offer a competitive lease sale for
approximately 4,199.5 subsurface acres of Federal minerals for the
expansion of Ramaco's existing underground mining operations. This
differs from the surface acreage of 4,382 acres due to the
environmental analysis assessing the maximum acreage that was eligible
to lease, although the decision has been made to lease less than the
maximum number of acres. The lands would be offered for lease under
lease number WVES106738235 and would be made available for coal mining
by underground mining methods; room and pillar mining with limited
secondary extraction. The proposed mining would result in the
extraction of 4.55 million tons of saleable, Federal metallurgical
coal, a fuel source for steelmaking.
The subject coal would be offered for lease with the BLM's standard
terms and conditions, special coal lease stipulations identified by the
BLM, and any stipulations accepted by the BLM from other federal and
non-federal groups for the protection of other surface facilities or
natural resources, consistent with applicable laws, policies, and the
USACE R.D. Bailey Lake West Virginia Master Plan, August 2011.
The BLM also evaluated the No Action Alternative under which the
BLM would deny the LBA and the land would not be offered for lease.
Without access to the minerals, Ramaco would be forced to halt
operations of their existing facilities.
Resources Evaluated
The EA analyzes environmental impacts of several key resources,
including air quality, geology and minerals (including subsidence),
socioeconomics, water resources, and wildlife resources. The analysis
evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed action and the no
action alternative on these resources. Additional resources were
considered, and rationales are provided in the EA.
Public Involvement Process
The notice of intent meets the regulatory requirements of 43 CFR
3425.3,43 CFR 3425.4, and 43 CFR 3422.1 regarding required public
hearings for the EA, FMV, and MER.
The meeting location will be at the Larry Joe Harless Community
Center, 202 Larry Joe Harless Drive, Gilbert, WV 25621.
Cooperating Agencies
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of Surface Mining and
Reclamation and Enforcement, the West Viginia Department of
Environmental Protection, and the West Virginia Department of Natural
Resources are cooperating agencies. BLM is the lead agency for this
project.
Additional Information
The BLM will continue to consult with Indian Tribal Nations on a
government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order
13175, BLM Manual Section 1780 and other Departmental policies. Tribal
concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and potential
impacts to cultural resources, will be given due consideration.
Federal, State, and local agencies, along with Indian Tribal Nations
and other stakeholders that may be interested in or affected by the
proposed lease for Federal coal that the BLM is evaluating, are invited
to participate in the comment period.
Any proprietary information or data that you submit to the BLM must
be marked as confidential and mailed directly to the Northeastern
States District Office, Attention: Pamela Mathis (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section) to assure the data will be treated in
accordance with the applicable laws and regulations governing the
confidentiality of such information or data. A copy of the comments
submitted by the public on the EA, fair market value, and maximum
economic recovery for the tracts, except those portions identified as
proprietary and that meet one of the exemptions in the Freedom of
Information Act, will be available for public inspection at the
Northeastern States District Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section) during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Central Time), Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may
[[Page 11987]]
be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
(Authority: 43 CFR 46.435, 43 CFR 3425.3 and 3425.4)
Mitchell Leverette,
Eastern States State Director.
[FR Doc. 2026-04731 Filed 3-10-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-18-P
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