The Trump administration has approved a contentious expansion of the Bull Mountain coal mine in Montana, sidestepping normal environmental reviews for a project already mired in criminal violations and ongoing legal battles.
The U.S. Interior Department gave Signal Peak Energy permission to extract 57.3 million tons of coal over nine years using emergency procedures. These procedures shortened what usually takes one to two years of environmental review to just 28 days.
Signal Peak Energy has a troubling record. In 2023, the company was fined $1 million after being found guilty of willfully breaking health and safety laws. This included illegally dumping toxic slurry containing heavy metals, arsenic, and lead.
Environmental groups sharply criticized the decision, calling it a misuse of emergency powers. They also pointed out that 98 percent of the coal mined is exported to Asian countries, mainly Japan, rather than used to meet U.S. energy needs.
For over 15 years, Signal Peak has shipped more than 100 million tons of coal overseas, according to a statement from Montana’s governor. This export focus challenges the administration’s claim that the expansion addresses a domestic energy emergency.
Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney at Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law organization, called the move “yet another disastrous decision by an administration that does not respect the rule of law.”
The mine’s operations have caused serious damage to local lands. Large cracks and crevices have formed on ranches, and springs and wells vital for livestock have been drained. Studies reveal the mine replaces less than 1 percent of the water it removes from the Bull Mountains.
Signal Peak has also violated federal pollution limits under the Clean Water Act 156 times in the last year, including significant breaches, according to the Western Environmental Law Center.
Environmental groups are preparing strong legal challenges. Three organizations have already sued the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for approving the mine’s expansion, which would open more land for coal mining.
Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, called the rationale for the expansion “utter hogwash.” She said it is wrong to sacrifice the climate, water, wildlife, and ranching communities just to export coal to foreign countries.
Hedges added, “The Trump administration is rewarding these bad actors with a free pass, ignoring the harm to local livelihoods, wildlife dependent on scarce water, and the worsening climate crisis.”