U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NEWS RELEASE
Billings Field Office
Billings Field Office
| Contacts: | Phil Perlewitz 406-896-5159 |
BNI Coal Ltd. Wins Lease Rights
BNI Coal Ltd. won the lease rights for the BNI coal tract offered at a Bureau of Land Management coal lease sale held October 15.
The company submitted a bid of $0.0053 per recoverable ton of coal for a total of $16,000 or $100 per acre. BLM has determined that the bid meets or exceeds fair market value. The state of North Dakota will receive half of the bonus bid monies.
The BNI coal tract contains 160 acres and an estimated 3 million tons of recoverable lignite coal. The tract is located adjacent to the Center Mine in Oliver County, N.D. The lease sale was held as a result of a coal lease application filed by BNI Coal Ltd. The coal will be recovered through strip mining methods.
Coal produced from the lease will also generate royalties and state severance taxes. The state of North Dakota receives half of the federal royalties and distributes them to agencies, public schools and local communities according to federal and state law. The state severance taxes are deposited in the Coal Development Fund which distributes 30 percent to a Land Board Trust Fund and 70 percent to the county where the coal was produced.
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. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Billings Field Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101