Judge approves remedy for Trapper
U.S. district Judge R. Brooke Jackson approved a joint remedy Monday morning that will keep Trapper Mine employees on the job while providing a timeline for a new environmental assessment to be performed.
The deadline to complete Trapper’s environmental assessment is April 30, 2016.
On Friday, Trapper Mining, Inc., WildEarth Guardians and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced the proposal had been filed with the court.
According to a news release from Trapper, “OSM will now have until April 30, 2016, to complete the new and enhanced environmental assessment of Trapper’s federal coal leases and OSM’s 2009 mine-plan modification approval. Trapper Mining and OSM will develop a timeline and plan for the environmental assessment and will keep all stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the process.”
The remedy is the result of a successful lawsuit from Guardians where Jackson agreed that OSMRE had not taken into account the indirect impacts of mining coal or sought adequate public comment on the mine’s operations — steps he found were mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.
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