Posted by Jeff on March 31, 2021 at 6:59 am in Conservation | 0 comments | Last modification: March 30, 2021
A federal judge has rejected the expansion of a coal mine in southern Utah, ruling that the Trump administration illegally failed to consider the climate costs of allowing more mining in the gates to Bryce Canyon National Park.
First proposed in 2011, the Alton coal lease would have opened the door to surface mining on 2,114 acres in southern Utah, allowing the Alton Coal Company to extract more of 30 million tons of coal from the Coal Hollow mine. Mining was finally approved in 2018 by the Trump administration. Shortly thereafter, WildEarth Guardians, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), and the Grand Canyon Trust filed a lawsuit. legal action.
The lawsuit challenged the approval on the grounds that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management failed to fully disclose and analyze the mine’s impact on climate change and mercury pollution, as required by federal law.
In its decision, the court found that the Bureau of Land Management violated the law by touting the mine’s purported economic benefits without including in the same discussion a discussion of the economic costs associated with climate change.
The court also agreed with the plaintiffs that the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately consider the mine’s cumulative climate impact when considered with other fossil fuel projects that contribute to climate change, including including pollution linked to the transportation and combustion of coal at the nearby Intermountain power plant. coal-fired power plant in southern Utah.
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