5 days ago
Federal government authorizes expansion of mine that supplies coal to Montana's largest power plant
The federal government has authorized a nearly 1,900-acre expansion of the mine that supplies Montana's largest power plant with coal.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced Tuesday that it has approved an expansion of the Rosebud coal mine near Colstrip that is expected to open access to 34 million tons of federal coal.
The expansion reflects the Interior Department's 'focus on energy independence, rural prosperity and permitting certainty,' according to a press release the Interior Department and OSMRE issued jointly. The agencies also wrote that the decision will provide Westmoreland Mining, which employs about 300 people, with enough coal to keep the mine open through 2039. In recent years, the Rosebud Mine has produced about 7,300 tons of coal per year.
The expansion is more modest than Westmoreland's original request to access up to 70 million tons of coal, but the company still cheered the development, describing it as years in the making.
A federal district court judge in Billings ordered OSMRE to conduct additional analysis in 2022 after environmental groups challenged the expansion, arguing that the federal government had failed to consider how the project would contribute to climate change and impact local water supplies.
'(OSMRE) went through the entire process, as ordered by the court,' Westmoreland attorney Jon Heroux said in a phone call with Montana Free Press on Tuesday. '(This decision) allows us to better fulfill our contracts going forward and ensure that we're able to provide our customer with a better product.'
Heroux added that the Interior Department or OSMRE could still be sued for other agency actions, but this Record of Decision marks the end of the road for this particular expansion into Area F of the Rosebud Mine, which spans nearly 10 miles of southeastern Montana.
'This case is over,' he said, adding that he appreciates the work Montana's federal delegation did to ensure that the expansion did not linger in permitting 'red tape.' Heroux also noted that the rise of AI and the construction of power-hungry data centers will drive an increase in electricity generated by a variety of sources, including coal.
'We're really going to have to think about that (energy) mix,' he said. 'It is ultimately going to be an 'all-of-the-above' solution.'
In an emailed statement to MTFP, Montana Environmental Information Center, one of the plaintiffs that sued OSMRE in 2019 over its authorization of the expansion, described the federal government's decision as contributing to an ongoing legacy of pollution.
'The Rosebud Mine has been destroying water resources in the region for decades,' MEIC Executive Director Anne Hedges said. 'The State of Montana has ignored the pollution emanating from this mine that destroys crucial water resources for agriculture and wildlife, and this federal approval will allow the mine to continue to do so for years to come. The federal government is supporting a mine that supplies the dirtiest, most toxic power plant in the nation and driving up the cost of electricity with expensive coal in the name of a fabricated energy emergency.'
Westmoreland's largest customer is the nearly 40-year-old Colstrip coal-fired power plant that's operated by Talen Energy and jointly owned by a handful of utilities operating in Washington, Oregon and Montana. NorthWestern Energy spokesperson Jo Dee Black wrote in an email to MTFP that NorthWestern, Montana's largest regulated utility, 'will continue delivering reliable energy service today while responsibly planning for tomorrow.'
'Just as you wouldn't tear down a bridge before a new one is built, existing energy resources must continue to operate until new infrastructure is fully developed and capable of meeting demand,' Black said. Sweeping changes that the Trump administration has made to environmental laws are evident in the Record of Decision for the project. OSMRE noted in that document, for example, that the Interior Department has issued new National Environmental Policy Act guidance, which 'explains that a bureau does not need to prepare an (Environmental Impact Statement) on the grounds of climate change or (greenhouse gas) effects alone' because greenhouse gas emissions are 'fundamentally cumulative phenomena' that cannot be tracked 'in a localized manner.'
___
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
