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Coal Undermining Clean Air in the Powder River Basin

Date
March 15, 2013
Contact
Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
In This Release
Climate + Energy  
#KeepItInTheGround
Wyoming—Citing failures to safeguard public health from smog, toxic orange clouds, and harmful particulate matter, WildEarth Guardians today called on the federal government to fix substantial flaws in an air pollution analysis being used to justify massive new strip mining plans in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.

“A blind eye is being turned to the serious impacts strip mining has on the air everyone depends on,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “The Powder River Basin of Wyoming is literally being turned into a pollution pit. Our message is clear: Clean air has to start coming first.”

In a petition filed with the U.S. Interior Department, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Guardians requested the agencies repair major oversights and update the Wright Area coal leases Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Finalized in 2010, the Wright Area coal leases Environmental Impact Statement analyzes the impacts of issuing six new coal leases that would expand the Black Thunder and North Antelope Rochelle mines, the world’s largest coal mines. In what is one of the largest coal proposals in history, the leases would mine more than 4.7 billion tons of coal and impact more than 53,000 acres of land, an area 82 square miles in size or four times the size of Wyoming’s capital city, Cheyenne.

When it was first issued, the Environmental Impact Statement asserted that air quality would be protected, even as the Black Thunder and North Antelope Rochelle mines expanded. Recent review by a technical expert commissioned by WildEarth Guardians, however, has found that the Statement is wrong and is in need of revision.

Among other things, the expert review found the Statement:

  • Lacks an accurate and up-to-date inventory of air pollution from coal mines in and near the Wright Area;
  • Falls short of ensuring emissions of nitrogen dioxide will be kept below federal health limits. The review pointed to the failure of the Statement to accurately address emissions related to blasting, which often form toxic orange clouds, which recent news articles reveal are a frequent occurrence. The petition filed by Guardians notes that nitrogen emissions just from the Black Thunder coal mine are as high as nitrogen emissions from the 800-megawatt Dave Johnston coal-fired power plant, located in nearby Glenrock, Wyoming.
  • Fails to ensure that ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog, is kept in check. The review found that, despite a number of recent exceedances of federal ozone standards, the Environmental Impact Statement does not actually analyze ozone impacts. It also found that if recently proposed updates to federal ozone standards are enacted, the region will likely fall into violation.
  • Does not accurately address the impacts of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which includes particles that are 2.5 microns or less in size, or 1/28th the width of a human hair. The Statement does not address federal PM2.5 standards adopted at the end of 2012. The review also found that underlying modeling data shows widespread violations of PM2.5 health limits resulting from expanded coal mining. Despite this, the Statement contradictorily asserts that coal mining will not violate PM2.5 standards.

“This is about looking before leaping,” said Nichols. “We can’t be assured that our clean air will be protected if the agencies charged with overseeing coal mining are relying on a flawed analysis.”

The National Environmental Policy Act requires Environmental Impact Statements reflect accurate and up-to-date scientific analysis, both to ensure the public is fully informed of the impacts of strip mining and to ensure federal agencies take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment.

The petition filed by Guardians calls on the federal agencies to update the Wright Area Environmental Impact Statement, fix the flaws, and to refrain from irreversibly committing resources until it can be demonstrated that the air quality analysis is adequate.

The petition is directed to the Interior Department, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement because all had a hand in preparing the Wright Area Environmental Impact Statement and all have a hand in authorizing the Wright Area coal leases. While the Bureau of Land Management issues leases, the U.S. Forest Service has to approve any coal lease that underlies the Thunder Basin National Grassland. The Interior Department and Office of Surface Mining ultimately have to approve the mining of the coal leases.

Guardians has called on the agencies to respond within 60 days.