Judge Weighs Whether To Stop Expanded Coal Mining Near Craig

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge in Denver who stopped a planned coal mine expansion because of climate concerns last year is weighing whether to also halt coal mining approved in the last decade in northwestern Colorado.

Unlike the previous case, most of the coal at issue has already been dug out of the ground, leaving U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson to decide what, if anything, to do now even if he decides that federal regulators did not pay enough attention to the environmental impacts of coal mining in approving the new mining.

During a hearing Friday in Denver, Jackson faulted the federal government for not publicizing expansion approvals for the Colowyo and Trapper mines, which supply Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association's Craig power plant, in 2007 and 2009, respectively. While the state publicized its approvals of the projects in newspapers, the federal government filed its notice in an agency library on the 34th floor of an office building in downtown Denver.

Because of the poor notice, New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians said it wasn't able to file a lawsuit challenging the approvals until 2012, when it first learned about the projects. Legal delays have prevented the case from being heard until now.

WildEarth Guardians wants the approvals thrown out and for Jackson to send a message to the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining that it has been handling these cases the wrong way.

However, a lawyer for the Colowyo mine, Mike Drysdale, said waiting until now to stop mining would likely put about 200 miners out of work overnight because it has no other coal currently permitted to mine other than the portion in dispute.

Jackson said he stands by his previous ruling in the High Country decision regarding the West Elk mine in Somerset, Colorado, that regulators need to consider the effect that burning coal has on the atmosphere.

"Someone jolly well better be thinking about that. I said that in High Country and I haven't changed my mind," he said.

But he seemed sympathetic to the plight of mines and miners by any similar decision from him at this point. He kept coming back to what could be done now, and worried that halting the mining could also stop needed reclamation of the land.

WildEarth Guardians has also filed civil suit to stop mining at the San Juan coal mine in New Mexico and the Spring Creek mine in Montana.

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