A federal judge has blocked a 2,000-acre expansion of Colorado’s West Elk coal mine, ordering the Trump administration to consider limiting methane emissions and address potential harm to water and fish.
Guardians and allies sued the Trump administration to block the approval of the mine expansion in July. The plan approved 8.4 miles of new roads and 43 new methane venting wells in roadless areas of western Colorado’s Gunnison National Forest, including the Sunset Roadless Area. The mine itself is the single-largest industrial source of methane pollution in Colorado.
This is a victory for public lands and a healthy climate and a slap in the face to the government’s practice of rubber-stamping new coal development, even when that development would destroy special places like the Gunnison’s Sunset Roadless Area.
Read the press release.
