[MCN] Court strikes down Montana coal mine expansion

[Matthew Koehler]

For Release: Tuesday, April 5, 2022

*Court strikes down Montana coal mine expansion*

*U.S. appeals court rules Trump-era mine expansion illegally approved*

HELENA, MONTANA—A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ panel has just ruled
<https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/04/04/20-35411.pdf>
 that Trump’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) wrongly approved an expansion
of Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains coal mine located north of Billings,
Montana. OSM largely ignored the fact that the proposed 175 million ton
expansion would release 240 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution over
11 years. The court ruled OSM “hid the ball” about the climate and
environmental impacts of expanding the mine.

The proposed expansion would make this the largest underground coal mine in
the U.S. based on annual production. It would also result in more
greenhouse gas emissions than any point source in the country.

This is another victory for environmental plaintiffs. In 2017, a federal
judge ruled in favor
<https://westernlaw.org/court-halts-expansion-largest-proposed-underground-coal-mine-country/>
of
environmental protections and required OSM to conduct a proper analysis of
the mine’s climate impacts. In the previous ruling the court found OSM had
put its “thumb on the scale” by only considering the benefits of the mine
and not the cost.

OSM’s subsequent 2018 environmental assessment was similarly flawed. It
concluded the mine’s emissions would be insignificant because 240 million
tons of greenhouse gases from the mine would appear small when compared to
global greenhouse gas emissions. The 9th Circuit panel agreed with the
conservation groups, saying this type of analysis would “predestine that
emissions would appear relatively minor, even though, for each year of its
operation, the coal from this project is expected to generate more
greenhouse gas emissions than the single largest source of greenhouse gas
emissions in the United States.”

“This is a significant victory against one of the largest coal mine
expansions in the country,” Derf Johnson, staff attorney with the Montana
Environmental Information Center said.“Moving forward, this ruling will
also require the U.S. Office of Surface Mining to actually consider the
extreme costs of continuing to burn coal and release carbon pollution into
the atmosphere when it is conducting environmental analyses. It’s long past
time for OSM to get serious about the climate crisis.”

“When deciding how to use our public lands, the federal government must
account for climate impacts,” said Sierra Club Attorney Nathaniel Shoaff. “The
Trump administration tried to hide the true climate impacts of this
expansion and the court rightly saw through those arguments.”

“The court’s decision reaffirms that the government may not simply ignore
science in determining that a mine expansion that results in the largest
underground coal mine in the U.S., will have no significant impact,” said
Western Environmental Law Center Attorney Melissa Hornbein. “In doing so,
the court fulfilled its constitutionally prescribed role in acting as a
critical check on an administration run amok and wholly dissociated from
the scientific reality of the climate crisis.”

“This mine is killing the climate and destroying the waters of the Bull
Mountains,” said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney for Earthjustice’s
Northern Rockies office. “Its owner, Signal Peak Energy, has a lengthy
criminal rap sheet. Today’s decision puts an end to federal agencies’
flimsy excuses for ignoring these grave impacts and ensures decision makers
fully consider the mine’s damage.”

“This is now a huge opportunity for the Biden administration to get it
right on coal and climate,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program
Director for WildEarth Guardians. “In the wake of this court win, we have a
chance to do the right thing and start keeping coal in the ground.”

The case is now remanded to District Court to determine the appropriate
legal remedy. Once the District Court issues a remedy order, the matter
will go back to the Interior Department to address the mine’s climate
impacts and decide whether or not to allow the expansion to go forward.

Signal Peak’s Bull Mountains Mine has long concerned environmentalists for
drying up waterways as well as its air, water, and climate pollution. Most
of the mine’s coal is exported through Canadian ports. Signal Peak was
recently fined $1 million
<https://www.justice.gov/usao-mt/pr/signal-peak-energy-fined-1-million-sentenced-three-years-probation-violating>
for
worker and environmental safety violations by the Department of Justice and
has faced multiple investigations
<https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/former-signal-peak-mine-official-admits-conspiring-to-not-report-mine-accidents/article_1674d47f-2ec9-573f-8a6a-115997b806cb.html>
for
alleged financial crimes and worker exploitation.

*CONTACTS:*
Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians, 303-437-7663,
jnichols at wildearthguardians.org
Noah Rott, Sierra Club, noah.rott at sierraclub.org, 406-214-1990
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, pwheeler at earthjustice.org, 202-792-6211
Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center, djohnson at meic.org,
406-443-2520
Melissa Hornbein, Western Environmental Law Center, hornbein at westernlaw.org,
406-708-3058

# # #

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