DENVER — Colorado coal miners dodged a threat to their livelihood Friday with the Interior Department’s just-in-time completion of an environmental review that keeps open the Colowyo mine and saves the jobs of 220 employees.
The Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining issued a “finding of no significant impact” after being ordered in May by a federal judge to redo an environmental assessment on a 2007 expansion permit for the mine in northwest Colorado.
The “notice of compliance” was filed Friday with the court without a moment to spare: U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson had given the department just 120 days, or until Sept. 6, to finish the assessment.
His order came in response to a lawsuit filed by the WildEarth Guardians, prompting local liquor stores and bars to stop selling beer from breweries listed as supporters of the anti-coal organization. Nearly 450 breweries and other companies responded by removing themselves the group’s list of supporters.
“We are grateful to the staff at the Office of Surface Mining and the other cooperating agencies for their diligence and hard work to complete the environmental review within the short timeframe ordered by the judge,” said Mike McInnes, CEO of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which owns the mine through its subsidiary, Colowyo Coal Company.
Rep. Scott Tipton, the Colorado Republican who represents the area, thanked the Interior employees for meeting the tight deadline.
“While we don’t see eye to eye with the Interior Department and Secretary Sally Jewell on many issues, their quick action to meet a short court-imposed deadline will ensure the Colowyo Mine remains operational and that 220 workers in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties continue to receive a paycheck,” Mr. Tipton said.
Sen. Cory Gardner, Colorado Republican, described the mine as “an economic engine for northwest Colorado,” supporting $165 million in economic activity and providing “affordable energy to not only the region, but neighboring states.”
Jeremy Nichols of the WildEarth Guardians told the Grand Junction Sentinel that the agency’s finding was “out of step with science and where the nation needs to be headed.”
The organization filed a similar lawsuit over an expansion of the San Juan Mine near Farmington, New Mexico.
Last month, the group released what it described as a “plan to end coal mining” as part of its “keep it in the ground” campaign.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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