Conservation groups are bringing the Interior Department to court for approving an expansion plan for Montana’s massive underground Bull Mountain mine.
The groups, led by the Montana Environmental Information Center, have alleged that Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) last summer approved a modified plan for the coal mine expansion without first completing a draft environmental review or accounting for public opposition.
The legal challenge is the latest in years of litigation opposing the sprawling mine over concerns about its effects on local ranchers and the environment. The area around the mine is also considered sacred by several Indigenous tribes, including the Crow and Blackfeet tribes.
“For decades, experts and citizens alike have raised the alarm that this mine would drain the Bull Mountains of water, and courts have ruled any further expansion would be illegal,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement Tuesday. “Ranching families and local communities will pay the price of this expansion.”
