Mining 020516

FILE - In this April 4, 2013 file photo, a mechanized shovel loads coal onto a haul truck at the Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Mont. An Obama administration effort to overhaul coal sales from public lands will be put to its first test as companies seek to advance two major mining projects in the Western U.S. Federal and state officials are meeting Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, to consider the request. Cloud Peak Energy and Lighthouse Resources Inc. wants to mine a combined 644 million tons of coal from government-controlled reserves in Montana and Wyoming. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)