Conservation and agriculture groups challenge Montana’s approval of Bull Mountain coal mine expansion

September 30, 2024

Conservation and agriculture groups challenge Montana's approval of Bull Mountain coal mine expansion

Legal complaint cites the State's failures to consider harms to water, agriculture, wildlife, safety

Contacts

Jackson Chiappinelli, Earthjustice, [email protected], (585) 402-2005

Dustin Ogdin, Northern Plains Resource Council, [email protected], (406) 248-1154

Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center, [email protected], (406) 581-4634

Billings, MO-

Conservation and family agriculture groups challenged Montana's approval of an expansion of the Bull Mountains Coal Mine, citing failures of the state's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to meet legal standards in its Environmental Analysis (EA). Bull Mountain Land Alliance, Northern Plains Resource Council, and the Montana Environmental Information Center, represented by Earthjustice, assert that the analysis ignores significant impacts to local resources that would exacerbate damage already done to local springs, wells, property, and livelihoods. The Bull Mountains Coal Mine is owned and operated by Signal Peak Energy.

The complaint asserts that Montana's analysis for the mine's expansion plan amendment runs afoul of the state's bedrock environmental law, the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). In addition to inadequate or omitted analysis of immediate impacts to water quantity, wildlife, cultural resources, climate, agriculture, and worker safety, complainants cite a failure to look at the cumulative and irreversible harm the mine expansion could inflict on the area.

"All we have ever asked from DEQ and other agencies is a fair and comprehensive analysis of how Signal Peak's mining activity will impact the future of this special region, as well as the people and wildlife that live here," said Tom Baratta, chair of Bull Mountain Land Alliance and local landowner whose property sits next to the mine. "My ranching friends and neighbors have suffered massive cracks across their land and damaged springs, eventually forcing them off of their land. We just ask the state of Montana to ensure that future mining plans will not permanently damage or destroy the irreplaceable resources we hope to pass on to our children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, this analysis does not come close to meeting that bar."

"It's incredibly unfortunate that the Montana DEQ rushed the permitting process for this mine expansion, including the environmental review, without fully considering the mine's impacts on our climate and the area's water," stated Derf Johnson, Deputy Director of the Montana Environmental Information Center. "This mine is responsible for releasing enormous amounts of carbon pollution, and it's aiming to be the largest underground coal mine in the country."

"Montana's approval of Signal Peak Energy's request to expand its coal mine in the Bull Mountains without properly examining the impacts to water, wildlife, and agriculture is in clear violation of state law," said Earthjustice attorney Shiloh Hernandez. "The mine is already destroying the limited and vital water supplies in the Bull Mountains, which science shows cannot be replaced there. This mine expansion would be a blatant threat to people who live and ranch in the area."

Local residents have expressed frustration for years that Montana politicians and state agencies have repeatedly failed to take their oversight obligations seriously despite Signal Peak Energy's extensive record of safety violations - including 1,600 mine safety violations and 122 accidents - as well as federal criminal convictions with lurid details prominently documented by national news sources. The mine owners have been fined over $1.1 billion in the last five years for civil and criminal violations in Montana and around the world.

Meanwhile, in August, the D.C. District Court denied Signal Peak Energy an attempt to force the federal government to rush an environmental review of a proposed 175-million-ton expansion at the Bull Mountains mine.

The conservation groups request that the court declare the AM6 Environmental Analysis unlawful and order DEQ to complete an analysis that considers the profound impacts the mine is already having and the cumulative impacts that will occur due to the expansion.

About our clients

The Bull Mountain Land Alliance stands up for land and people by advocating for affordable and efficient energy use, prosperous family farms and ranches, and a healthy local economy.

The Montana Environmental Information Center is a non-profit environmental advocate founded in 1973 whose mission is to protect and restore the land, air, water, and life-sustaining climate of Montana through advocacy, education, and empowering people to bring about a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations.

Northern Plains Resource Council is a grassroots conservation and family agriculture group that organizes Montanans to protect our water quality, family farms and ranches, and unique quality of life.

Additional Resources

• About the Northern Rockies Office

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.