Pittsburg and Midway Coal filed the exchange proposal in 1999, to trade Ranch lands in southern Carbon County and land in Lincoln in Sheridan counties for more than 2,000 acres of coal-rich federal estate in northern Sheridan County.

The Sheridan County tract is estimated to contain 84.2 million tons of recoverable coal.

The exchange includes about 2,447 acres of land inside the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Lincoln County, in addition to the BLM and private lands involved.

About 6,065 acres of land will be transferred into federal ownership while P&M will receive 2,045 acres of federal land and its mineral estate. All but 1,233 acres of land the government is to acquire comes with mineral rights.

P&M’s land is valued at US$5.4 million with the forest lands making up the bulk at $4.1 million. The JO Ranch was appraised at $388,000. The Forest Service would pay the company $44,000 to make up the shortfall in the value.

The JO Ranch involves 1,233 acres that is surrounded by public lands. The JO Ranch buildings are historically significant and may be suitable as a National Historic Site, the BLM said.

Few public objections have been made on the proposal with a few objections to the transfer of the Welch lands because a coal seam fire is burning under one corner of the tract.

The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining, a wholly owned Chevron subsidiary, ranks among the top 15 coal producing companies in the United States. About 80% of P&M's sales are to electric utilities.