Federal officials have finalized a 55 million-ton coal lease in a deal that ensures continued operations of Utah's oldest and most productive coal mine. The owner of the Sufco mine in Sanpete and Sevier counties delivered the winning bid of nearly $23 million last January in a process billed as competitive even though no other bids were submitted on the 6,175-acre Greens Hollow tract under the Fishlake and Manti-La Sal national forests.
Greens Hollow is one of four major federal coal leases in the pipeline in Utah, including one near Bryce Canyon National Park needed to keep Alton's Coal Hollow mine going.
Canyon Fuels Co., now owned by Bowie Resource Partners, proposed the Greens Hollow lease a decade ago so it's Sufco mine could continue its underground longwall operations, extracting high-Btu, low-sulfur coal. This lease is expected to return $194 million in royalties and taxes. Sufco is under contract to supply PacifiCorp's nearby Hunter and Huntington power plants through 2020. Salt Lake Tribune
