By Carly Ferro, Executive Director
Here is some very good news we have recently received from Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. Around 2008-2009, the Utah Sierra Club and our partners brought suit against Alton Coal Development. It was a bold act which did not come without significant litigation risks. The effort to push back on Alton coal predates all current Chapter and Utah staff at the Sierra Club. It is a reminder and testament to the endurance and fortitude often required to ensure safeguards for people and our planet. We salute those volunteers, including Dan Mayhew, Marion Klaus, Jim Catlin, Wayne Hoskisson, and others, who spent so much time in Panguitch learning about local concerns, and patiently supporting this effort.
Background on the project’s challenges and impacts: The proposed Alton coal mine expansion has been in the works for many years. Located approximately ten miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, the proposed expansion onto public lands would have exacerbated climate change, affected visitor experiences in the park, and imperiled the southernmost sage grouse lek in North America. Sierra Club has led the fight to oppose the expansion, and more than 200,000 people commented against the proposal in large part thanks to our efforts.
According to Nathaniel Shoaff, from the Environmental Law Program: “Judge Barlow on the federal district court in Utah just ruled in our favor on the Alton NEPA challenge. We won on the social cost of carbon and cumulative climate. Judge Barlow ruled against us on analyzing impacts from mercury and remanded the matter to BLM for more analysis......For some of us, this has been a decade in the making. The Alton comments were the very first set of NEPA comments I ever wrote. We made it a national issue, submitted more than 200,000 public comments in opposition to the expansion, and have been through more peaks and valleys getting to here than in any case I've been a part of in twelve years at Sierra Club."
Thank you to all who supported these efforts. As you'll note, there are some opportunities that National Federal Policy and others will be following up on. This is a late-breaking story, so watch for a more in-depth analysis of this decision on the Sierra Club Utah website. It will be coming soon.