U.S. Senator Steve Daines  held  a public meeting in Billings to ensure that the Department of Interior (DOI) hears the voices that will be most impacted by their review of the federal coal program.

 While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claims that they are “particularly interested in gathering public input on the issues and policies that should be outlined in the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” on June 21 they are holding an official scoping meeting in Seattle where there is little to zero coal. As of the end of 2013, Montana held more than one-fourth of the nation's estimated recoverable coal reserves.