November 3, 2025 - A recent announcement by the federal government could bring coal development to Southern Utah's public lands, including tracts adjacent to national parks.

In September, the Trump Administration announced plans to open 13.1 million acres of federal lands to coal leasing — more than triple the 4 million-acre benchmark included in the One Beautiful Bill Act, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior. This includes 48,000 acres in Utah.

Of the 48,000, about 30,700 acres are wilderness eligible and included in the proposed America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, according to a press release issued by Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management's Kanab and Richfield field offices, approved in 2008 under former President George W. Bush, previously identified 42,000 of these acres as unsuitable for coal leasing, the release states.

Steve Bloch, legal director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, told St. George News that Utah lands saw less impact in terms of acreage than other states, such as Montana, which saw nearly 7 million acres opened to coal leasing. However, after a closer look at which lands were chosen in Southern Utah, they discovered this acreage was adjacent to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

"I mean to me, it's the impacts that leasing and development would have to the national parks and Grand Staircase and to people's experiences visiting those places," he said. "I mean, Zion and Bryce and Capitol Reef are places where the state of Utah relentlessly advertises for people to go visit them. And, of course, they're national treasures that, in fact, folks from around the world want to come and experience."

Bloch said the decision will harm cities and towns that serve as gateways to the parks, such as St. George, Kanab and Springdale.

"These are the places whose economies now have grown up around supporting national parks and providing opportunities for visitors to experience these amazing landscapes," he said. "And those are the places that will really suffer the most from this kind of proposal. And if the leasing comes to fruition, those are the places that will be on the front lines of seeing the impacts."

For instance, Bloch said that mining could harm visitors' experiences of Bryce Canyon's dark skies and overlooks by introducing bright lights and dust.

According to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, one of the selected parcels is almost 12,000 acres adjacent to the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument's western side and is south of Bryce Canyon.

Executive Director of Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners, Dr. Jacqualine Grant, said mining could also impact water resources.

“The potential coal mining lease on the northwestern border with Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is a bad idea because the water that flows through this section feeds the tributaries of the Paria River, which breathes life into the landscape of Grand Staircase-Escalante,” she said in the release. “National Parks, Monuments, and private landowners will all feel the impact of these decisions.”

Coal leasing is also open near Zion National Park's east side, including part of the Virgin River's north fork and North Fork Road, from which the narrows can be accessed, the alliance states. Other areas impacted include the trailheads for Chamberlain Ranch and Orderville Gulch, public land near state Route 89, also known as the Utah Heritage Highway and Mount Carmel Scenic Byway.

"If you were taking your family to hike in the Zion Narrows, you're driving up that access road, it's possible you'd be driving through or next to a coal mine," Bloch said.

The move is meant to "strengthen our domestic supply chains and secure reliable energy," according to the Department of the Interior.

“President Trump promised to put American energy workers first, and today we’re delivering,” Secretary Doug Burgum said. “By reducing the royalty rate for coal, increasing coal acres available for leasing, and unlocking critical minerals from mine waste, we are strengthening our economy, protecting national security, and ensuring that communities from Montana to Alabama benefit from good-paying jobs. Washington doesn’t build prosperity, American workers and entrepreneurs do, and we’re giving them the tools to succeed.” 

Bloch said that these claims are not supported by facts.

"Secretary Burgum is really good at the rhetoric like that, making statements that align with the administration and the president's priorities," he said. "But the on-the-ground reality is mining coal in Utah, and mining coal right outside of Utah's national parks is a terrible mistake and is not going to do anything to strengthen supply chains or meet energy demand. It's only going to ruin some of America's most spectacular public lands."

In addition to opening land to coal leasing, the Department of the Interior plans to accelerate the recovery of minerals from mine waste and abandoned sites. 

"Interior is working with the U.S. Geological Survey and state partners to map mine waste deposits and fast-track projects that can recover strategic resources like uranium, zinc, germanium, tellurium and rare earth elements—materials vital for defense technologies, energy production and advanced manufacturing," the department states.