MONTANA

Lowball coal bid rejected

BILLINGS — Federal officials rejected a company’s bid to acquire 167 million tons of coal on public lands in Montana for less than a penny per ton, in what would have been the biggest U.S. government coal sale in more than a decade.

The failed sale underscores a continued low appetite for coal among utilities that are turning to cheaper natural gas and renewables such as wind and solar to generate electricity. Emissions from burning coal are a leading driver of climate change, which scientists say is raising sea levels and making weather more extreme.

President Donald Trump has made reviving the coal industry a centerpiece of his agenda to increase U.S. energy production. But economists say Trump’s attempts to boost coal are unlikely to reverse its yearslong decline.

The Department of Interior said in an Oct. 14 statement that the previous week’s $186,000 bid from the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) did not meet the requirements of the Mineral Leasing Act.

Agency representatives did not provide further details, and it’s unclear if they will attempt to hold the sale again.

The leasing act requires bids to be at or above fair market value. At the last successful government lease sale in the region, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy paid $793 million, or $1.10 per ton, for 721 million tons of coal in Wyoming.

A second proposed lease sale under Trump — 440 million tons of coal near an NTEC mine in central Wyoming — was postponed following the low bid received in the Montana sale. Interior Department officials have not said when the Wyoming sale will be rescheduled.

OKLAHOMA

School Bible mandate rescinded

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s new public schools superintendent announced Oct. 15 he was rescinding a mandate from his predecessor that forced schools to place Bibles in classrooms and incorporate the book into lesson plans for students.

Superintendent Lindel Fields said in a statement he has “no plans to distribute Bibles or a Biblical character education curriculum in classrooms.” The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers and religious leaders that is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It was to have applied to students in grades 5 through 12.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Fields to the superintendent’s post after Walters resigned last month to take a job in the private sector.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were encouraged by Fields’ decision and planned to discuss next steps with their clients.

Many schools districts across the state had decided not to comply with the Bible mandate.

A spokeswoman for the state education department, Tara Thompson, said Fields believes the decision on whether the Bible should be incorporated into classroom instruction is one best left up to individual districts and that spending money on Bibles is not the best use of taxpayer resources.

Thompson said the agency plans to review all of Walters’ edicts, including a requirement that applicants from teacher jobs coming from California and New York take an ideology exam, to determine if those may also be rescinded.

WYOMING

Ex-library director settles lawsuit

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for youngsters and who sought their removal from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.

Terri Lesley was fired as the library system director in northeastern Wyoming’s Campbell County in 2023, two years into the book dispute at the library in Gillette. Lesley sued last spring over her termination and reached the settlement with county officials Oct. 8.

Public officials in Campbell County sided with the book objectors and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights, Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against the county, including its commission and library board.

The county denied Lesley’s claims. Only Lesley’s performance — not the dispute over the books — played a role in her dismissal, the county argued in court documents.

The books objected to in Gillette included “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, “How Do You Make a Baby” by Anna Fiske, “Doing It” by Hannah Witton, “Sex is a Funny Word” by Corey Silverberg, and “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler.

Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against three individuals who contested the books will continue.

UTAH

Oaks picked to lead Mormon church

SALT LAKE CITY — Dallin H. Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, was named Oct. 14 as the new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its more than 17 million members worldwide.

Oaks’ selection to lead what is widely known as the Mormon church follows the recent death of his 101-year-old predecessor, Russell M. Nelson. His ascension is not a surprise; a longstanding church policy says the longest-tenured member of a top leadership body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes the next president. The tradition is meant to ensure a seamless transition and prevent internal or public lobbying.

As president, he is considered a prophet and seer who will guide the church through divine revelation from God alongside two top counselors and members of the Quorum of the Twelve. He’ll set policy and oversee the church’s many business interests.

At 93, Oaks will be one of the church’s oldest presidents. He will serve in the role until he dies. Tenures for past presidents have varied, with the longest reaching nearly 30 years and the shortest being just nine months.

Experts are doubtful Oaks will pivot sharply from Nelson’s approach to leadership because he was one of Nelson’s closest advisers. But they say he might shift from Nelson’s focus on the faith’s global footprint to domestic issues.

In the first significant difference from Nelson’s presidency, Oaks announced during the faith’s recent general conference that the church will slow the announcement of new temples.

Oaks has been a strong advocate for civil public discourse. Early on as an apostle, he was involved in a crackdown on far-right extremism that resulted in some excommunications. In 2020, he gave a speech about having faith in elections without resorting to radicalism or violence.