June 16, 2021: Today, Sierra Club and our allies are at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging one of the largest underground coal mine expansions in the U.S. If allowed to go forward, the mining, shipping, and burning of coal from the Bull Mountains mine expansion would result in more than a quarter billion tons of climate pollution and send 12,000 coal trains rattling through grizzly habitat between Montana and a coal export terminal in British Columbia.
At issue in the case is the inadequate environmental review, finalized under the Trump Administration, that green lit the expansion while improperly downplaying the mine's climate impacts and harms to grizzlies and other wildlife. The 12,000 coal trains required to ship coal from the mine to a Canadian coal export facility traverse known grizzly habitat, with train strikes killing 1-2 grizzlies per year along these tracks. The mine's 240 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions would cause between $3 billion and $30 billion in climate damages based on the most recent social cost of carbon figures.
Sierra Club brought the suit with Montana Environmental Information Center, WildEarth Guardians, 350 Montana, and Western Environmental Law Center. WELC attorney Shiloh Hernandez will argue the case at the Ninth Circuit. Sierra Club's work has been led by Environmental Law Program attorneys Aaron Isherwood and Nathaniel Shoaff, who is representing the Club in the case, along with Beyond Coal representatives Cesia Kearns and Mike Scott.