(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Judge orders full environmental analysis for Signal Peak before expansion – Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- February'] Date: 2023-02-13 A federal judge has vacated a decision that would have allowed a coal mining company to move ahead with an expansion plan near Roundup because officials in the Trump administration granted a permit there without any consideration of what it may do the scarce water in the area. Officials from the Signal Peak Mine said the decision may eventually force the mine to close, while U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy ordered the United States Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to conduct an environmental assessment of the proposed expansion, which federal officials said could take between 18 and 24 months. The ruling, issued Monday by Molloy, resolves a challenge that went to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel sent it back to Molloy, ordering that there was inadequate information that would have allowed officials to determine if the expansion of the mine on federal lands would damage the water or environment. In his ruling, Molloy chastised the Trump administration for ignoring the question and not evaluating the impacts. “The Enforcement Office’s errors cast substantial doubt on the agency’s decision to approve the mine expansion in the first instance,” Molloy wrote. “That doubt is then augmented, not assuaged, by the agency’s unilateral decision to prepare an environmental impact statement at this late stage of proceedings.” In order to try to correct the problem that the trial court and the appeals court homed in on, the office began an environmental review process – a less rigorous evaluation, the court said – in order to compensate. Molloy cast doubts on whether the agency could be trusted without going through a more thorough process. Calls to Signal Peak Energy’s main office in Roundup went unanswered. Vacating the previous court rulings means the Office of Surface Mining will be mandated to conduct the analysis in order for the mine to expand. Signal Peak officials warned that if they’re not given access to mine the federal land, it could shutter operations at the Bull Mountain Mine permanently, dealing a blow Roundup and the surrounding areas. The Ninth Circuit had ruled that the Office of Surface Mining had determined in 2018 that the mine’s expansion were “insignificant,” and therefore didn’t need an assessment, as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. The expansion would have allowed Signal Peak to expand its operations by 175 million tons. Yet, officials from Signal Peak also said it’s difficult, if not impossible, to mine on state and privately-owned land without having approval to mine on federal land. In addition to not adequately explaining why the Trump administration considered the environmental impacts so insignificant as to make no environmental assessment, the order said it had also considered the impacts of the coal itself. “The enforcement office did not account for the emissions generated by coal combustion, obscuring and grossly understating the magnitude of the mine expansion’s emissions relative to other domestic sources of (greenhouse gases),” the ruling said. Even though officials with Signal Peak say if operations aren’t allowed to expand, they may have to close, Molloy said in his ruling that the company has admitted “it has enough coal on state and privately-owned land to satisfy consumer demand during the two years the enforcement office expects to take to complete its environmental review.” Signal Peak officials also said that economic losses to Montana include $126 million in revenue during those two years, plus $27 million in coal revenue for the federal government. “(Signal Peak) believes its inability to mine federal coal past this two-year window would likely force the mine to close,” Molloy said. “While this economic impact has the potential to be both large and disruptive, the mine expansion’s very existence results from (an) invalid NEPA process, minimizing its weight. “The economic disruption of stopping the mining of federal coal may be large, but NEPA’s main concern is a project’s environmental impact, not the economic impact of putting the project on hold.” The expansion at the mine has been a part of an escalating feud between surrounding land owners and environmental groups against the company, which has had several high-ranking officials receive prison terms and fines for violating safety, fraud and drugs. The company has also engaged in a series of increasingly hostile fights with ranchers and landowners that would see them kicked off the land. Many landowners have called on the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to strengthen its enforcement of water protection there also. “Ranching operations and wildlife are threatened because government agencies continue to ignore the severe harm the mine is causing to water resources and the environment,” said Anne Hedges, director of policy and legislative affairs at the Montana Environmental Information Center. “We are grateful that the court has agreed to uphold the law and rein in this out-of-control company that has show utter disregard for hard-working Montana ranchers, wildlife, and critical water resources.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/02/13/judge-orders-full-environmental-analysis-for-signal-peak-before-expansion/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/