Description: Challenge to mining plan modification for Montana coal mine.
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Montana Environmental Information Center v. Haaland
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/18/2021 Order Download Motion to dismiss intervenor-defendants' appeal for lack of jurisdiction granted. 08/11/2021 Motion to Dismiss Download Motion to dismiss intervenor-defendants' appeal for lack of jurisdiction filed by plaintiffs-appellees. -
Montana Environmental Information Center v. Haaland
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WildEarth Guardians v. Bernhardt
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 08/05/2021 Order Download Defendant-intervenor Navajo Transitional Energy Company's motion to stay pending appeal denied in anticipation of federal defendants' request for extension. 04/05/2021 Motion Download Memorandum filed by defendant-intervenor Navajo Transitional Energy Company in support of motion for stay pending appeal. 04/05/2021 Notice of Appeal Download Notice of appeal filed by defendant-intervenors Navajo Transitional Energy Company, LLC and Spring Creek Coal LLC. 02/03/2021 Order Download Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment granted in part and denied in part; federal defendants' and defendant-intervenor's cross-motions for summary judgment denied. Montana Federal Court Found Failure to Take a Hard Look at Costs of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Review of Coal Mine Expansion. The federal district court for the District of Montana found flaws in an updated environmental assessment for a mining plan modification that extended the life of the Spring Creek Mine, a surface coal mine in Montana. In earlier litigation challenging the same mining plan modification, the court found procedural and substantive violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In the instant case, the court agreed with a magistrate judge’s findings that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) failed to take a hard look at the impacts of coal transportation, failed to adequately consider the effects of downstream non-greenhouse gas emissions, and failed to quantify costs associated with greenhouse gas emissions even though OSM quantified the mine expansion’s socioeconomic benefits. Like the magistrate judge, the district court rejected claims that OSM improperly segmented its analysis and ignored cumulative impacts of the entire Spring Creek Mine. The court ordered OSM to prepare corrective NEPA analysis and deferred vacatur of mining plan approval for 240 days for preparation of the analysis. 06/17/2019 Order Download Case stayed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 362. After defendant-intervenor Spring Creek Coal, LLC filed for bankruptcy, the court stayed the case. 04/22/2019 Response Download Response filed by federal defendants to plaintiffs' Rule 72 objections. 04/22/2019 Response Download Response filed by plaintiffs to defendants' objections to findings and recommendations. 04/22/2019 Response Download Response filed by defendant-intervenor Spring Creek Coal LLC to plaintiffs' objections to findings and recommendations. 03/21/2019 Objection Download Rule 72 objections to findings and recommendations filed by federal defendants. 03/21/2019 Objection Download Objections to findings and recommendations filed by plaintiffs. 03/21/2019 Objection Download Objections to findings and recommendations filed by defendant-intervenor Spring Creek Coal LLC. 02/11/2019 Findings and Recommendations Download Findings and recommendations issued by magistrate judge recommending that plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment be granted and that defendants and defendant-intervenor's cross-motions for summary judgment be denied. Federal Magistrate Found NEPA Violations in Updated Environmental Assessment for Montana Coal Mine Expansion. A federal magistrate judge in the District of Montana recommended that the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) be required to conduct new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis for a mining plan modification that would permit expansion of a surface coal mine in southern Montana. In a previous proceeding, the district court found that the initial NEPA review for the modification was insufficient and remanded for additional review. In the new lawsuit, the magistrate judge found that the updated environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact still violated NEPA. As an initial matter, the magistrate judge concluded that an environmental group that was not a party to the previous litigation had standing and that res judicata therefore did not bar new arguments raised in the new lawsuit—including an argument that OSM failed to apply the social cost of carbon protocol in examining greenhouse gas impacts. On the merits, the magistrate judge agreed with the plaintiffs that the defendants failed to take a hard look at the impacts of coal transportation and the non-greenhouse gas effects of coal combustion. The magistrate also agreed with the plaintiffs that since OSM quantified the mine expansion’s economic benefits, it was also required to quantify the costs associated with greenhouse gas emissions or provide a non-arbitrary reason for not doing so. The magistrate then found that the reasons given for not using the social cost of carbon tool as a means to quantify the costs of greenhouse gas emissions were arbitrary. The EA had stated that there was not a consensus on what fraction of the social cost of carbon should be assigned to a coal producer; that it was not certain that greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced in the absence of the mine’s expansion since power plants have alternative sources of coal; and that there were uncertainties regarding the “specific and accurate” social cost of carbon for the proposed action. The magistrate found that the decision not to prepare an environmental impact statement was arbitrary and capricious, but rejected claims that the defendants improperly piecemealed their NEPA analysis or that the Office of Surface Mining arbitrarily failed to consider the validity of the underlying lease. Regarding remedy, the magistrate found that concerns regarding the detrimental impacts of vacating the approval of the mining plan modification remained valid and therefore recommended that vacatur be deferred to allow the defendants time to correct the NEPA violations. 06/08/2017 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Environmental Groups Filed NEPA Challenge of Montana Coal Mine Expansion. WildEarth Guardians and Montana Environmental Information Center filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Montana challenging the approval of a mining plan modification for the Spring Creek Mine in southeastern Montana, the seventh largest coal strip-mine by production in the United States. The plaintiffs asserted that the federal defendants had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to fully disclose the environmental impacts of coal mining, including the indirect effects of coal transportation, air pollution and greenhouse gas pollution from coal combustion, and the cumulative impacts of another mining plan modifications and a separate coal lease at the mine. The plaintiffs also said the underlying coal lease might be void as a matter of law because it was approved by a field manager who did not have authority to approve the lease.