{"id":29187,"date":"2025-06-06T17:13:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=29187"},"modified":"2025-06-06T17:24:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:24:30","slug":"trump-approves-expansion-of-scandal-hit-coal-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=29187","title":{"rendered":"Trump Approves Expansion of Scandal-Hit Coal Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Environmental groups had opposed expanding a Montana mine previously caught up in allegations of cocaine trafficking and the faked kidnapping of an executive.<\/p>\n

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The Trump administration on Friday greenlighted the expansion of a scandal-hit underground coal mine in Montana, one of the nation\u2019s largest, cutting short a federal environmental review and putting into action a key element of President Trump\u2019s plan to revive America\u2019s coal industry.<\/p>\n

In the past, the mine has been embroiled in allegations<\/a> involving bribery, cocaine trafficking, firearms violations and the faked kidnapping of an executive.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s decision would extend the life of the Bull Mountain coal mine, which employs 250 people outside Billings, by nine years, the Interior Department said. It would allow the mine\u2019s operator, Signal Peak Energy, to mine nearly 60 million tons of coal, mostly for export to Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what energy leadership looks like,\u201d Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary, said in a statement. He said Mr. Trump\u2019s declaration, in January, of a national energy emergency \u201cis allowing us to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America\u2019s future through energy independence and strategic exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Citing the emergency declaration, Mr. Trump has directed the government to expedite permitting of new oil and gas drilling sites and pipelines, as well as coal mines, which would typically be subject to analysis of potential environmental harm as well as public comment. Energy experts have questioned<\/a> whether the country does face an energy emergency.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Environmental groups, which had pushed to halt the expansion of the Bull Mountain mine, condemned the decision. They pointed to how its operator had repeatedly violated worker-safety, pollution and environmental regulations.<\/p>\n

Coal is also the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, and a major driver of global climate change. The coal industry\u2019s decline had been helping to drive down the country\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is yet another disastrous decision by an administration that does not respect the rule of law,\u201d said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit. \u201cAllowing it to expand will inflict further harm on the residents of the Bull Mountains and deepen the climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Parker Phipps, Signal Peak\u2019s president and chief executive, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Signal Peak Energy had separately sued the federal government, saying the Interior Department needed to speed up its approval of the mine\u2019s expansion plans.<\/p>\n

A federal judge last year dismissed the mine\u2019s request to force a speedier review of its expansion, which involves federal coal leases. The Interior Department had said it would complete its environmental review by May 2026.<\/p>\n

On Friday the Trump administration curtailed that review and gave the mine expansion the go-ahead. Mr. Trump has signed executive orders aimed at expanding coal mining in the United States, including prioritizing coal mining on federal land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Environmental groups had opposed expanding a Montana mine previously caught up in allegations of cocaine trafficking and the faked kidnapping of an executive.The Trump administration on Friday greenlighted the expansion of a scandal-hit underground coal mine in Montana, one of the nation\u2019s largest, cutting short a federal environmental review and putting into action a key element of President Trump\u2019s plan to revive America\u2019s coal industry.In the past, the mine has been embroiled in allegations involving bribery, cocaine trafficking, firearms violations and the faked kidnapping of an executive.The administration\u2019s decision would extend the life of the Bull Mountain coal mine, which employs 250 people outside Billings, by nine years, the Interior Department said. It would allow the mine\u2019s operator, Signal Peak Energy, to mine nearly 60 million tons of coal, mostly for export to Asia.\u201cThis is what energy leadership looks like,\u201d Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary, said in a statement. He said Mr. Trump\u2019s declaration, in January, of a national energy emergency \u201cis allowing us to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America\u2019s future through energy independence and strategic exports.\u201dCiting the emergency declaration, Mr. Trump has directed the government to expedite permitting of new oil and gas drilling sites and pipelines, as well as coal mines, which would typically be subject to analysis of potential environmental harm as well as public comment. Energy experts have questioned whether the country does face an energy emergency.Environmental groups, which had pushed to halt the expansion of the Bull Mountain mine, condemned the decision. They pointed to how its operator had repeatedly violated worker-safety, pollution and environmental regulations.Coal is also the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, and a major driver of global climate change. The coal industry\u2019s decline had been helping to drive down the country\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions.\u201cThis is yet another disastrous decision by an administration that does not respect the rule of law,\u201d said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit. \u201cAllowing it to expand will inflict further harm on the residents of the Bull Mountains and deepen the climate crisis.\u201dParker Phipps, Signal Peak\u2019s president and chief executive, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Signal Peak Energy had separately sued the federal government, saying the Interior Department needed to speed up its approval of the mine\u2019s expansion plans.A federal judge last year dismissed the mine\u2019s request to force a speedier review of its expansion, which involves federal coal leases. The Interior Department had said it would complete its environmental review by May 2026.On Friday the Trump administration curtailed that review and gave the mine expansion the go-ahead. Mr. Trump has signed executive orders aimed at expanding coal mining in the United States, including prioritizing coal mining on federal land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29189,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29190,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29187\/revisions\/29190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}