Oil A Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA story
Mining
The PRB has become about more than just coal. Oil production is also increasing. Similar to the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, new technologies are allowing oil to be more economically recoverable.
Since 2009, hundreds of oil wells have been drilled in the PRB. In the second half of 2010, 219 drilling permits were received. In the first half of 2014, 1,161 permits were received.
These images show the region just west of the Black Thunder Mine. The 2014 image looks like a messy dot-to-dot drawing. The light dots, connected by crooked lines, are oil wells and the roads that lead to them.
Location
Aug. 27, 2011, Landsat 5 (path/row 34/30) — Oil wells, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 1, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Oil wells, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 20, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Oil wells, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA
Sept. 18, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 34/30) — Oil wells, Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA
Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA Additional Imagery & Stories
Animations
The coal mines in the PRB advance quickly enough to see a lot of change from year to year. Two animations available here show the annual change of the...
Black Thunder Mine
The Black Thunder Mine, shown in the series of Landsat images on the left, has sent 2.2 billion tons of coal to U.S. power plants since 1977. It produ...
North Antelope Rochelle Complex Mines
The North Antelope Rochelle Complex is the most productive of the PRB mines. In 2018, the mine sold 98.4 million tons of coal. In 2017, it accounted f...
The Mining Process
The mining process that takes place in the PRB is called surface mining. First, the topsoil is removed. The material above the coal (overburden in min...