WildEarth Guardians

A Force for Nature

Select Page

Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Press Releases

Obama Administration OKs Coal Mine Expansion in Colorado Roadless Area

Decision Comes Days After Court Upholds National Roadless Protection Rule
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303

Date
November 9, 2011
Contact
Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303
In This Release
Wildlife  
#DefendCarnivores, #EndTheWarOnWildlife

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Obama Administration OKs Coal Mine Expansion in Colorado Roadless Area

Decision Comes Days After Court Upholds National Roadless Protection Rule
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303

Additional Contacts:
Ted Zukoski, Earthjustice (303) 996-9622
Suzanne Jones, The Wilderness Society (303) 650-5818 x102

Western Colorado—The U.S. Forest Service yesterdayissued a decision that literally paves the way for conglomerate Arch Coal tobuild up to 48 well pads and 6.5 miles of road into pristine roadless landsabout ten miles east of Paonia, Colorado. This decision permits a1,700-acre expansion of Arch’s West Elk coal mine, one of the state’s largestgreenhouse gas polluters.

The Obama administration’s action comes on the heels of therecent decision by the Denver-based Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upholdingthe 2001 National Roadless Rule, court action in which the administrationdefended that rule. The National Roadless Rule prohibits roadconstruction on about 4 million acres of roadless forest in Colorado, includingthe Sunset Trail Roadless Area that Arch coal would develop.

“The Forest Service is snatching defeat from the jaws ofvictory,” said Ted Zukoski, an attorney with Earthjustice, a public interestlaw firm that defended the 2001 National Roadless Rule in courtrooms across thenation for the last decade.

The majority expansion is within the Sunset Trail RoadlessArea, a pristine landscape of beaver ponds and aspen and conifer forests whichprovides habitat for lynx, elk, and black bear adjacent to the scenic West ElkWilderness Area. The Obama administration’s decision will likely turnthis wild roadless area into an industrial zone of well pads and roads, with anaverage of 18 wells pads – and two miles of road – per square mile.

“The administration should not be paving the way for anincursion into roadless lands when a court has just upheld its authority toprotect those lands,” Zukoski said. “This administration promised toprotect Colorado roadless areas as well or better than the 2001 Roadless Rulerequired. It doesn’t look like they intend to live up to that promise.”

The administration is considering a Colorado-specific rulethat, unlike the National Roadless Rule, will allow dozens of miles of road tobe built in 20,000 acres of roadless areas to meet the desires of several coalcompanies hoping to develop these wild areas for mining. Theadministration received more than 30,000 comments opposing the coal mines inMay 2010.

“With this decision, we know what the administration’sproposed Colorado roadless rule would mean – miles of roads, well pads and amaze of destruction on stunning landscapes right next to one of the state’sflagship wilderness areas,” said Suzanne Jones, Colorado Regional Director forThe Wilderness Society.

Although the West Elk coal mine is underground, safe coalmining in the North Fork Valley requires that methane venting wells be drilledabove the mine. The West Elk Mine spews millions of cubic feet of methanepollution every day. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 21 timesmore heat trapping ability than carbon dioxide. Methane venting makes theWest Elk coal mine one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases in Colorado.

West Elk’s methane pollution also wastes a valuablecommodity – natural gas. Forest Service and EPA data show the amount ofmethane vented at West Elk could heat a city about the size of GrandJunction. But the Forest Service has refused to require the Mine tocapture, burn, or reduce any of the Mine’s methane pollution.

“This project is a lose-lose-lose proposition,” said JeremyNichols, Climate and Energy Coordinator for WildEarth Guardians. “Thepublic loses a fantastic wild area, loses millions in potential royalties frommethane that is wasted instead of captured, and loses due to the massivepollution the mine causes. It’s time the Forest Service stood up to BigCoal and said no to this kind of damaging expansion.”

Other Contact
Western Colorado—The U.S. Forest Service yesterday issued a decision that literally paves the way for conglomerate Arch Coal to build up to 48 well pads and 6.5 miles of road into pristine roadless lands about ten miles east of Paonia, Colorado. This decision permits a 1,700-acre expansion of Arch’s West Elk coal mine, one of the state’s largest greenhouse gas polluters.

All