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Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Coalition to BLM: No New Coal Mine in Colorado
New Mine to be Punched in Book Cliffs; Guardians Joins Allies in Calling for Plans to be Scrapped
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
Grand Junction, CO—WildEarth Guardians today joined a coalition of allies in calling on the federal government to abandon plans to approve a new coal mine in western Colorado’s iconic Book Cliffs that threatens to fuel global warming, destroy imperiled wildlife habitat and wilderness, and spew contamination into the region’s air and water.
“This is a dirty energy disaster,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “With our nation shifting toward clean, renewable energy to safeguard clean air, the climate, and public health, the last thing we need is a fossil fuel calamity like a new coal mine.”
The new mine is slated to be dug 15 miles northwest of Grand Junction. The Bureau of Land Management is weighing whether to sell 78 million tons of new coal underlying 14,160 acres, which would allow the mine to be built.
The coal would be stripped from the mine, sold on the open market, shipped across the country on a new railroad spur, and burned in coal-fired power plants. According to information from the company seeking the lease, Rhino Resources, the coal may also be exported overseas to be burned.
While burning the coal would release an estimated 150,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the mine would also vent massive amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. A previous analysis by the Bureau of Land Management estimated that venting at the new mine would release 24 million cubic feet of methane daily over the 30-year life of the mine. This would equal nearly 4,000,000 tons of carbon, equal to the energy use of 311,332 homes in a single year.
“This is a fossil fuel fiasco,” said Nichols. “The global warming footprint of a new coal mine is simply unacceptable at a time when our nation needs real clean energy solutions more than ever before.”
In detailed comments submitted late on March 11, 2014, the coalition of local, regional, and national environmental groups ripped the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal on a number of grounds:
- Wilderness: The proposed mine would irreversibly degrade the Citizens’ Proposed Hunter Canyon Wilderness Area located in the Book Cliffs;
- Clean Air: The mine would release more air pollution in a region on the brink of violating federal air quality standards, jeopardizing public health and risking federal sanctions;
- Pure Water: The mine would release more water pollution, including toxic selenium, into streams, putting fish and wildlife at risk. Already, the Colorado River downstream of the mine, which supports endangered fish and their critical habitat, is violating selenium water quality standards; and
- Wildlife: Deer and elk winter range would be severed by the proposed railroad spur and the mine would disrupt imperiled wildlife like the white-tailed prairie dog, and burrowing owl.
If the Bureau of Land Management proceeds with reviewing the impacts of the proposed mine, a decision is not likely until 2016.
The coalition of groups preparing and filing the comments include WildEarth Guardians, Earthjustice, Conservation Colorado, Western Colorado Congress, Rocky Mountain Wild, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Wilderness Society.
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