Salt Lake City — Michelle McConkie, the director of the Trust Lands Administration, was on hand today with company leaders and local officials to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Fossil Rock Mine near Orangeville, Utah.
Trust Lands originally acquired the coal reserves from the federal government in the 1998 Grand Staircase Escalante land exchange. The lessee, Fossil Rock Resources, LLC, expects eventually to extract as many as 3 million tons of coal a year from the mine. Utah’s schoolchildren are the beneficiaries of royalties paid under the coal leases. The portion of the proceeds from the mine that the Trust Lands Administration will eventually deposit into the Permanent School Fund is approximately $10 million annually.
McConkie said, “Trust Lands is one of the biggest leasing agents for energy production in the state. We lease lands for coal extraction, solar energy production, wind farms, geothermal resources, hydrogen storage, and more. We have a clear constitutional mandate - to generate the most revenue possible for our beneficiaries.”
“We are pleased to partner with Trust Lands to support Utah’s public schools. Fossil Rock Mine will also provide fuel for the generation of low-cost electric power,” said Carson Pollastro, CEO of Fossil Rock Resources.
“I live just a few minutes down the road from here, and I can tell you, everyone around here is thrilled to see the mine open again,” said Utah State Senator David Hinkins, who represents the area where the mine is located. “It simply would not be possible without SITLA’s resources,” Hinkins continued.
“The coal industry is critical for so many things there are too many to list,” said Utah House of Representatives Christine Watkins. “We’re grateful to the Trust Lands Administration for working with the mine owners to help see it start producing again,” Watkins continued.
The Trust Lands Administration manages 3.3 million acres of Trust Lands in Utah. Trust Lands are not public lands. Congress allocated Trust Lands specifically to generate revenue to support designated state institutions. The Trust Lands Administration is constitutionally mandated to manage the lands and revenues generated from them in the most profitable manner possible for the current beneficiaries and preserve trust assets for future beneficiaries.