The Supreme Court decision earlier this month affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the expansion at Westmoreland’s Rosebud Mine could damage a nearby watershed by piling onto past impacts and increasing how long pollution remains.
Anne Hedges is with the Montana Environmental Information Center, one of the advocacy groups to sue and said that, “the final agency action disregarded the fact that water quality in the area is already impaired for salts.”
The Montana Supreme Court this month vacated the permit and remanded the issue back to the Board of Environmental Review, which had upheld the Department of Environmental Quality’s permit approval. The Supreme Court also settled some other disputes within the review. Among them, that the board was wrong to limit evidence advocacy groups wished to present.
Westmoreland and the Montana DEQ declined YPR’s requests for an interview, but provided written responses.
In a statement, Westmoreland’s Corporate Counsel for External Affairs Jon P. Heroux says, “While Westmoreland disagrees with portions of the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling in the AM4 case, we are pleased that Westmoreland and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) won on five of the eight substantive issues before the Court. We believe that the Court’s ruling provides a good roadmap on how to proceed with these issues going forward and we look forward to continuing working with the Montana DEQ toward that end with respect to our other permits. Additionally, there will be no operational impact to the mine: mining in AM4 was effectively completed a year ago; the quality and delivery of current coal shipments to the Colstrip Generating Station will not be impacted; and our other permits are unlikely to be negatively impacted by this ruling.”
DEQ in its statement writes, “DEQ appreciates the court affirming the hearing examiner and Montana Board of Environmental Review on important procedural matters that will impact future cases before the Board. The court remanded the case back to the Board of Environmental Review. Besides the Montana Supreme Court’s immediate vacatur of the permit, long-term impacts to the permit will not be known until the Board reviews evidence and argument on issues the Supreme Court found deficient.”
