A public protest period is now open for a new resource management plan put forth by the Bureau of Land Management for the Powder River Basin area.
The plan would authorize 10 billion tons of coal production, as well as oil and gas development.
Powder River Basin Resource Council Chair Gillian Malone says the council had hoped there might be limits on energy production.
"Well we would hope that there would be a lot more room to protect Greater Sage Grouse for one thing in the Powder River Basin and they did virtually nothing," says Malone.
And Malone is not optimistic that this protest period will change anything.
"That’s the whole purpose of commenting in a comment period is that they would revise some of their results. But I don’t count on that. It seems that energy runs the show," she says.
The protest period is open until June 26th.
