Environmental groups are suing President Donald Trump's administration over approval of the amended mining plan for Signal Peak Energy's Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana.
The groups argue that members of the Interior Department bypassed required environmental review processes in the name of a "spurious energy emergency".
The Montana Environmental Information Center, Center for Biological Diversity and Wildearth Guardians filed a suit on 3 March in the US District Court for the District of Montana. They claim Interior and the agency's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) violated the Administrative Procedures Act and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when OSMRE last year approved Signal Peak's plan to resume work on additional land in the Bull Mountains mining complex.
Interior approved the changes to the Bull Mountains mining footprint under an alternative path to NEPA compliance that it implemented last year after Trump declared the US to be in an energy emergency. In doing so, OSMRE did not prepare a draft environmental impact statement for Signal Peak's plan or accept any public input beyond comments submitted during the scoping stage of the plan's review.
The environmental groups took issue with Trump's energy emergency declaration. They also argued that the Bull Mountains project was not urgent and that prior studies had flagged risks to groundwater, ranching operations and wildlife. They also noted that most coal from the mine is exported, which they say undermines the rationale that the mining plan amendment addresses a domestic energy shortfall.
Signal Peak said the lawsuit continues long-standing opposition to the amended mining plans and said the mine's operation is productive and safe. Interior had approved previously approved amended mining plans that included acreage in the plan being challenged by the environmental groups, but Signal Peak was forced to stop working on those areas in 2023 after a federal court vacated OSMRE's environmental review.
The company said that OSMRE's approval provided production continuity and a more direct route to other coal reserves at the mining complex that would make moving longwall equipment to other mine sections easier and less costly.
Interior did not respond to a request for comment.
