A controversial southeastern Montana coal mine expansion has received federal approval, a move environmental advocates said ignores court orders and will worsen local pollution.
The U.S. Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining approved expansion of the Rosebud Mine, which supplies the Colstrip Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant.
Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the decision bypasses necessary environmental analysis and condemns the region to decades of continued water and air pollution from a facility she called unreliable and expensive.
"Agricultural producers and others downstream of that mine are the ones who have to suffer the consequence, and will continue to suffer the consequence," Hedges asserted. "Because of this haphazard approval by the federal government that was done without the rigorous analysis that’s necessary."
The Trump administration has framed the approval as part of its plan to bolster domestic energy and rural jobs. Hedges dismisses the claim, arguing the decision forces Montanans to subsidize expensive, "dirty" energy despite the state's vast potential for wind and solar power.
The federal approval extends the mine's operating life through the year 2039. Hedges contended the move is counter to national climate and clean air goals, noting the Colstrip plant already has a national reputation for toxic emissions.
"This mine feeds the coal-fired power plant that has the highest rate of toxic emissions in the nation," Hedges pointed out. "There is no other plant that even comes close to the level of emissions that this plant puts out, and the mine and the power plant are adjacent to each other."
Legal challenges are expected. The Montana Supreme Court previously ruled the state failed to protect water resources from this mine's pollution. Advocates are now weighing their options against a federal approval they called "lawless."
