September 15, 2017: The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must reassess its analysis of the climate impacts of expanding two massive coal mines in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB). The two mines approved for expansion (the North Antelope Rochelle and the Black Thunder mines) are responsible for roughly a quarter of all of United States’ coal production each year and, over the lifetime of their expansions, they will add two billion tons to the United States’ total coal production.
Today’s decision will have a dramatic impact on how the BLM and the Department of the Interior assess future leases for fossil fuels and marks a great setback for the Trump administration's efforts to ignore climate. ELP Attorneys Nathaniel Shoaff, Nathan Matthews, and Aaron Isherwood played a vital role in the decision.
For more information check out the press release here.