Officials in Wyoming have reached an agreement with a Navajo tribal mining firm that would give the state of Wyoming authority to take the company to court to enforce environmental laws at two coal mines.
Navajo Transitional Energy Company acquired the Antelope and Cordero Rojo mines in Wyoming, and the Young's Creek mine in Montana, from Gillette-based Cloud Peak Energy in a 2019 bankruptcy sale.
As a sovereign tribal entity, the Navajo company couldn't normally be sued in state court.
Wyoming and Montana officials have been negotiating limited waivers of sovereign immunity for Navajo Transitional Energy as a condition for the company to eventually get state permits for its new mines.
Negotiations between Navajo Energy and the state of Montana continue.
