The Trump administration recently approved a controversial expansion of a coal mine in the state of Montana, bypassing standard environmental reviews for a project embroiled in criminal scandals and facing mounting legal challenges over environmental destruction.
The U.S. Interior Department authorized Signal Peak Energy to extract 57.3 million tons of coal from the Bull Mountain coal mine over nine years through emergency procedures that compressed what would normally be a one to two-year environmental review into just 28 days.
The approval came despite Signal Peak Energy's criminal history, as it was criminally convicted and fined 1 million U.S. dollars in 2023 for willfully violating health and safety standards, including the illegal dumping of toxic slurry containing heavy metals, arsenic and lead.
Environmental groups immediately condemned the Trump administration's decision on Friday, calling it an abuse of emergency powers for a mine that exports 98 percent of its coal to Asian markets.
Over the past 15 years, Signal Peak has shipped over 100 million tons of coal, primarily to Japan, according to the Montana Governor's press release on Friday. This export focus undermines claims that the expansion serves domestic energy emergency needs, as the coal primarily supplies Asian markets rather than meeting domestic energy security needs.
"This is yet another disastrous decision by an administration that does not respect the rule of law," said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney at Earthjustice, a non-profit law organization, in a press release.
The mine's operations have created massive cracks and crevasses across ranching lands, dewatering springs and wells essential for livestock operations. Research has shown the mine cannot replace even 1 percent of the water it drains from the Bull Mountains.
The mine has also violated pollution limits under the federal Clean Water Act 156 times in the past year, including at least one instance of significant noncompliance, according to Western Environmental Law Center, a public interest law firm.
Environmental groups are preparing extensive legal challenges on multiple fronts. Three environmental groups have already sued the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for approving an expansion of the Bull Mountain Mine that would open up more land for coal mining.
"It's utter hogwash that we have to sacrifice the climate, water resources, wildlife and area ranching operations in order to send coal overseas to be burned by foreign countries," Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said in a statement.
"Now the Trump administration is rewarding these bad actors with a free pass without considering the harm to ranchers' livelihoods, wildlife that depend on vanishing area water resources, or the devastation that will result from making the climate crisis even worse," she noted.
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