Today, the Gunnison County, Colorado District Court ruled in favor of Sierra Club and its allies in Clean Air Act litigation, as we continue to hold the State accountable and protect air quality and the climate from the harmful impacts of the West Elk coal mine. The order is the Club's latest victory at the West Elk mine, and comes on the heels of ten years of sustained legal advocacy.
The Court's Order, issued after the Sierra Club and other conservation groups sued to force the state to act on a long-overdue Title V Clean Air Act permit application, requires the State to issue a draft permit by June 1, provide a status report to the court July 14, and includes additional measures to ensure a final permit is issued as soon as practicable.
The mine, located in the Sunset Roadless Area on Colorado's spectacular Western Slope -- photo evidence attached -- is the State's largest industrial source of methane. Among other protections, a final permit would ensure that methane mitigation measures at the mine, implemented only after Sierra Club's hard-won legal victories at the Tenth Circuit and in federal district court, become permanent and enforceable.
For more than 10 years, Sierra Club's advocacy at the West Elk mine has been led by Environmental Law Program Senior Attorney Nathaniel Shoaff. Sierra Club, High Country Conservation Advocates, Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, and Wilderness Workshop were represented in this matter by WildEarth Guardians attorney Kate Merlin.