Judge orders fresh environmental review of Utah coal mine expansion

In a partial win for environmental groups, Senior U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ordered the Bureau of Land Management to conduct a new environmental assessment of the Lila Canyon Coal Mine expansion near a recreation area in eastern Utah. The expansion, approved in 2021 on the last days of the first Trump administration, would open 1,273 acres of public land for the extraction of roughly 7 million tons of coal. The Sierra Club and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance sued in June 2022, claiming the original analysis ignored greenhouse-gas impacts and violated NEPA and the APA.

Acknowledging recent federal cases that deemed the BLM’s emissions calculations insufficient, the judge granted the agency’s voluntary remand without vacating the original decision. He set an 18-month deadline for the revised review, required quarterly progress updates, and retained jurisdiction throughout the process. Emery County Coal Resources, a defendant, argued the remand could jeopardize its lease, but the court found that argument unpersuasive.