Amid a “national energy emergency,” the federal government approved the long-stalled expansion of Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountains coal mine near Billings on Friday. The mine, an exporter of coal to Japan and South Korea, faced numerous court-ordered delays due to inadequate federal environmental assessments.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum credited President Trump for decisive action, stating, “President Trump’s leadership in declaring a national energy emergency is allowing use to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America’s future through energy independence and strategic exports.” Earlier this year, the administration utilized “alternative arrangements for compliance” with the National Environmental Policy Act to make a favorable decision on the expansion after previous attempts faltered for not addressing greenhouse gas emissions from coal combustion. These delays have persisted since 2009.
Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center criticized past assessments, noting, “They didn’t do the proper analysis. They didn’t do any climate analysis originally.” Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, now a U.S. House representative for Montana, led an unsuccessful push to greenlight the expansion during Trump’s first term.
The latest legal setback came in 2023 when U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy stopped the expansion until a comprehensive environmental impact statement was completed. This statement needed to evaluate the carbon emissions’ costs and the benefits of mine expansion. Subsequently, Signal Peak announced it could run out of federal coal by 2025 without access to more, turning instead to state-owned coal, necessitating $40 million in new equipment.
Signal Peak spokesperson Mike Dawson remarked, “After years of delay, including four rounds of federal environmental reviews and multiple public comment periods, this reauthorization…brings life into a mine that was within months of significantly curtailing operations.”
Opponents, like Bull Mountain Land Alliance’s Pat Thiele, contested the decision, expressing concerns about the national energy emergency rationale, which they claim silences local voices affected by mining with minimal oversight. Meanwhile, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte praised the decision, emphasizing coal’s role in energy security and its importance as a reliable energy source for allies.
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