Local Business · Kemmerer, WY
Kemmerer Coal Mine Set to Close End of 2029, Threatening Soda Ash Industry
The Kemmerer coal mine in Lincoln County, Wyoming, is planned to close at the end of 2029, affecting about 153 miners and the state's $1.3 billion trona mining and soda ash industry that relies on the coal for boiler fuel and electricity generation. The adjacent Naughton power plant completed its conversion from coal to natural gas in December 2025, reducing the mine's annual production from 4.2 million tons in 2017 to 1.5 million in 2025. Two of five soda ash processing plants in southwest Wyoming consume a combined 1 million tons of Kemmerer coal annually. WE Soda plans to switch to natural gas, and the Wyoming Energy Authority recommended a $13 million grant to support that transition.