Too Cozy with Coal? Group Charges Feds Rubber-Stamping Mine Approvals

"A lawsuit by WildEarth Guardians claims regulators ignore climate impacts in approving mine expansions on federal land in the Rocky Mountains."

"Environmental advocates are suing federal officials, alleging they approved the expansion of four Western coal mines on public lands without adequately taking their climate impacts into account.

The New Mexico-based group WildEarth Guardians is accusing the U.S.  Department of the Interior of rubber-stamping coal mine expansions in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming without comprehensive environmental reviews, according to a lawsuit filed Sept. 15 in the U.S. District Court of Colorado. The Interior department oversees the leasing of public lands for fossil fuel extraction.

'We are seeing a disturbing pattern in the Interior Department, where every time they review a mining approval or a lease, they always come to the same conclusion: the carbon impacts are insignificant,' said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director at WildEarth Guardians. 'This is absolutely insane.'"

Zahra Hirji reports for InsideClimate News October 2, 2015.