10th Circuit Declares Environmental Fight Over 2 Coal Companies is “Moot”

wildearthguardians

The Denver Federal Appeals Court has ruled against challenges that claimed the U.S. Department of the Interior wrongly gave permission to two Colorado coal mines to expand their operations. Instead, the 10th U.S. District Court of Appeals found the challenges were “moot” because the federal agency had completed an environmental assessment and vacated the original ruling.

The moot decision came in an appeal filed by Colowyo Company Company LP and Trapper Mining Inc. who along with the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement had been sued by WildEarth Guardians. WildEarth had alleged the Office of Surface Mining violated the National Environmental Protection Act by failing to involve the public in the approval processes and by failing to take a hard look at the modifications’ environmental impacts. A lower court agreed and remanded the matter to OSM with directions to comply with NEPA.

But while the two mining firms appealed, the Office of Surface Mining completed its remedial analyses and reapproved both mining plan modifications. So the 10th Circuit dismissed the appeals as “moot and vacate the district court’s May 8, 2015 order.”

It doesn’t mean the case is gone forever. As the 10th Circuit pointed out by vacating the lower court judgment in the moot case it “clears the path for future relitigation of the issues between the parties.”