Description: Challenge to federal approval of mining plan for coal mine in New Mexico.
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WildEarth Guardians v. Jewell
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 02/16/2017 Opinion and Order Download Amended petition for review denied and agency actions affirmed. The federal district court for the District of New Mexico upheld federal approval of a mining plan for 640 acres of a coal lease in New Mexico. The court found that the environmental assessment (EA) prepared by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement took a hard look at direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of mining the federal coal and appropriately analyzed impacts on air quality and greenhouse emissions, including impacts from coal combustion. The court said the EA's analysis supported the finding of no significant impact. The court noted that the EA provided information about contracts for providing coal to certain generating stations and power plants and calculated emissions from combustion of coal at those plans and analyzed the emissions in the context of global and national emission levels. The court also said the EA's approach comported with the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ's) guidance for assessment of greenhouse emissions and noted that the CEQ guidance did not require use of the social cost of carbon in the evaluation. 07/08/2016 Petition Download Amended petition for review filed.