Owners of big Montana coal mine due in court as layoffs loom
BILLINGS, Mont. — Attorneys for a large Montana coal mine are due in court this week to press a judge to reverse an order that could prompt dozens of layoffs by blocking the mine’s plans to expand.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has scheduled a Tuesday hearing in Missoula to hear arguments on whether Signal Peak Energy can do preliminary work in the expansion area in order to avoid layoffs.
Bull Mountain is one of the largest underground mines in the U.S. and ships about 95 percent of its fuel to Asia. Its owners wants to expand onto a 176-million ton coal reserve beneath land adjacent to the existing mine.
Molloy ruled in August that federal officials who approved the expansion overstated the mine’s economic benefits and failed to consider its climate change impacts. The mine’s owners asked Molloy to reconsider, setting the stage for Tuesday’s hearing.
Read more: http://www.columbian.com/news/2017/oct/30/owners-of-big-montana-coal-mine-due-in-court-as-layoffs-loom/