Steamboat Springs — Coal companies are right in the mix in the quest for environmental sustainability, one mine official says.

Twentymile Coal Co. has worked to reduce its effect on the earth from the start, Environmental Manager Jerry Nettleton said. The mine recently joined Steamboat Springs' Sustainable Business Program to improve its practices, he said.

"It's interesting because I get this funny reaction: a coal mine joining a sustainable program, what's that about?" he said.

Twentymile, which is between Oak Creek and U.S. Highway 40 on Routt County Road 27, had to go through a strict permitting process, Nettleton said. The mine was required to address and mitigate its impact on the environment.

Engineers looked at possible effects on areas such as archaeology, vegetation, wildlife and aesthetics, he said.

"A lot of people look at the coal industry and say, 'Gee, they go up there and tear up the earth and make messes,'" Nettleton said. "Unfortunately, there was a time in the history of the country where that was probably true. In today's world, mining companies are probably one of the most responsible in terms of the environment and one of the most heavily regulated industries out there."

For example, Nettleton said, the mine already has worked to reduce its impact on the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse. The mine did so well with its efforts to protect the bird that the state Department of Wildlife examined its actions to implement them elsewhere, he said.

"We've worked with them to transport some of those birds to other areas where they want to repopulate," Nettleton said.

The mine has room to improve, however, he said. That's where Lyn Halliday and the sustainability program come in. Nettleton and Twentymile Human Resources Director Ron Spangler are working with Halliday, principal of Environmental Solutions Unlimited. She helps businesses organize their sustainability programs.

She has sat down with Nettleton and Spangler, but that's only the first step.

"They have a lot of things they want to focus on, and they have a lot of things that they feel they already have in place," Halliday said. "As I go through the process, the first thing I do is inventory the operation, and we look at the energy, the fuels; we look at water conservation, water quality, all of that."

Cleaning up coal

Nettleton said he was looking forward to enhancing Twentymile's program.

"I don't think people know or understand too much about what we do," he said. "When we were first contacted about the sustainable program, we looked at the information on it, and we said, 'Jeez, the things they're talking about doing are things we're already doing.'"

In addition to mitigation of environmental impacts, Twentymile cuts down on driving for some of its 500 workers. The mine runs shuttles 24 hours a day, which reduces traffic and air pollution, Nettleton said.

The environmental manager also responded to the tricky issue of coal-fired power itself. Alternative sources such as wind and solar power are steadily gaining attention at coal's expense. Colorado gets about 70 percent of its power and the nation gets 50 percent of its power from coal, he said.

"When you look at energy and the future of energy, it would be very difficult to replace that base load power in the short term," Nettleton said. "In the long term, there are options, but in the short term, you would face serious losses."

He added that today's coal plants are cleaner and more efficient than their ancestors. Peabody Energy, which owns the mine, also is paying for research into clean coal technology, Nettleton said.

Any business can improve environmental stewardship through the Sustainable Business Program, Halliday said.

"At the end of the day, there is no perfect anything," she said. "Some products that companies produce are more sustainably oriented than others. The business operation itself is important. We'll look at that and see where the program goes."