Court Finds Federal Government
Illegally Approved Coal Mining

Dear Guardian,  

We won!

Last Friday, a federal court agreed with us that the U.S. Interior Department failed to account for the impacts of burning coal when approving more mining.

You see, it’s a simple matter of cause and effect. More mining means more burning. More burning means more carbon and other harmful air pollution.

Put another way, if we have any chance of reining in coal and moving our nation to clean energy, we have to start at the mines.

In spite of this, our federal government has for years refused to come clean with the American public and disclose the impacts of coal burning. Instead, I’ve seen them continue to rubber stamp more mining and worse, keep the public in the dark.

I’m thrilled to say that this has now changed.

In a ruling last Friday, a federal judge held that mining approvals in Colorado illegally ignored coal burning impacts and excluded the public.

It’s a much-needed rebuke to the Interior Department’s practice of green lighting more fossil fuel development even as our nation struggles to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change.

With cleaner energy taking hold throughout our nation, providing more jobs than ever, and boosting economies to new heights, I think this ruling is a major step in the right direction.

And I think this underscores how effective and important our work at WildEarth Guardians is. As the judge said during our hearing in this case:

I think that all of us in this room and all of us in general ought to be glad that there are people like the WildEarth Guardians that care enough about the environment to be...the sand in the wheels sometimes.

I’m honored to be a part of Guardians’ success in confronting coal in the American West and I thank you for your support for helping us all move forward.

 

Jeremy Nichols
Climate and Energy Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

 

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photo credit: EcoFlight