Judge: US must reconsider climate impacts of Montana mine

Source: Associated Press


Matthew Brown, Associated Press
Updated 1:24 pm CST, Tuesday, February 12, 2019

BILLLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. officials have again been faulted by a federal judge for failing to adequately consider the potential climate change effects of expanding a massive coal mine in the sagebrush-covered hills of southeastern Montana.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan recommended in a Monday ruling that the Interior Department be given 240 days to re-analyze the expansion.

But Cavan said mining shouldn't be stopped in the interim, frustrating environmentalists who have campaigned for years to curtail coal production from the huge strip mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana.

. . .

If she adopts Cavan's recommendation, it would mark a setback to the Interior Department's attempts to downplay the climate change impacts of burning fossil fuels extracted from public lands.



Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Judge-US-must-reconsider-climate-impacts-of-13610477.php