The Bull Mountain Land Alliance, Northern Plains Resource Council and the Montana Environmental Information Center are appealing a case they filed against the Bull Mountains coal mine expansion in 2024.
They said regulators failed to take a hard look at climate impacts when approving the expansion, which extends the mine’s footprint by 1,000 acres and therefore its operational life by one year. In December, a district court judge disagreed. She determined the DEQ had fulfilled the scope and requirements under the Montana Environmental Policy Act and that plaintiffs had failed to prove otherwise.
Conservation groups filed their appeal Monday.
Advocates are also challenging an expansion of the mine into more federal coal, which the Trump Administration fast-tracked after years of legal challenges.
