GRAND JUNCTION — The proposed expansion of the West Elk Mine near Somerset won approval from the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday.
The benefits of the 1,720-acre, 17 million-ton coal mine expansion outweighed any environmental threat, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest supervisor Scott Armentrout wrote in the draft record of decision.
The West Elk Mine, which is owned by Arch Coal, employs about 220 people and last year produced 4 million tons of coal.
The decision now goes to a 45-day review period during which Delta County commissioner Mark Roeber said he expected environmental organizations to file objections. If the decision is affirmed, work to build roads and drill vents for methane from the mine could begin in the spring.
“I can guarantee we won’t raise an objection” to expansion of the mine, Roeber said.
And environmental organizations were, indeed, quick to object.
“The Trump administration’s rubber-stamping of Arch Coal’s mine expansion displays its utter contempt for our national forests, our public health, and public opinion,” said Matt Reed, public lands program director for High Country Conservation Advocates. “More than 100,000 people signed petitions and letters opposing this project for the damage it would cause to wild forests and our climate. Trump ignored them all to benefit a mine that already has nearly a decade of dirty coal already under lease.”
The Trump administration, however, is picking up where its predecessor left off, said John Swartout, rural policy and outreach director for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
“This deal was made possible by the Obama administration working with us and our delegation” to Washington, Swartout said. “The idea that Trump came in and everything changed, that’s not true, at least not on this issue.”
