Montana GOP legislators press state to lease coal tracts

Fourteen state legislators from Eastern Montana, all Republicans, sent a letter Tuesday to the state Land Board, urging it to vote next week to lease 570 million tons of state-owned coal in the Otter Creek Valley, for possible development.

The Land Board, composed of Montana’s five elected statewide office holders, is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to put the state’s 572 million tons of coal up for bid to potential developers. Read the full story from the Billings Gazette.