In the area where the feds are leasing the coal to be mined is the Powder River Basin between Gillette and Sheridan Wyoming. There are currently over 100,000 wells drilled into the coal seams to extract Methane Gas. A certain type of bacteria eat the coal in the pressence of water and produce CH4 which is methane gas. It will be interesting to see how the extraction of this coal is on the gas industry here. I predict some major legal battles ahead.