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Environmental groups had opposed expanding a Montana mine previously caught up in allegations of cocaine trafficking and the faked kidnapping of an executive.
June 6, 2025Updated 2:23 p.m. ET
The Trump administration on Friday greenlighted the expansion of a scandal-hit underground coal mine in Montana, one of the nation’s largest, cutting short a federal environmental review and putting into action a key element of President Trump’s plan to revive America’s coal industry.
In the past, the mine has been embroiled in allegations involving bribery, cocaine trafficking, firearms violations and the faked kidnapping of an executive.
The administration’s decision would extend the life of the Bull Mountain coal mine, which employs 250 people outside Billings, by nine years, the Interior Department said. It would allow the mine’s operator, Signal Peak Energy, to mine nearly 60 million tons of coal, mostly for export to Asia.
“This is what energy leadership looks like,” Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary, said in a statement. He said Mr. Trump’s declaration, in January, of a national energy emergency “is allowing us to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America’s future through energy independence and strategic exports.”
Citing the emergency declaration, Mr. Trump has directed the government to expedite permitting of new oil and gas drilling sites and pipelines, as well as coal mines, which would typically be subject to analysis of potential environmental harm as well as public comment. Energy experts have questioned whether the country does face an energy emergency.
Environmental groups, which had pushed to halt the expansion of the Bull Mountain mine, condemned the decision. They pointed to how its operator had repeatedly violated worker-safety, pollution and environmental regulations.
Coal is also the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, and a major driver of global climate change. The coal industry’s decline had been helping to drive down the country’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“This is yet another disastrous decision by an administration that does not respect the rule of law,” said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit. “Allowing it to expand will inflict further harm on the residents of the Bull Mountains and deepen the climate crisis.”
In a statement, Signal Peak said the action “breathes life into a mine that was within months of significantly curtailing operations.” It said the mine remained “committed to the environmentally responsible development of high-quality coal.”
Signal Peak Energy had separately sued the federal government, saying the Interior Department needed to speed up its approval of the mine’s expansion plans.
A federal judge last year dismissed the mine’s request to force a speedier review of its expansion, which involves federal coal leases. The Interior Department had said it would complete its environmental review by May 2026.
On Friday the Trump administration curtailed that review and gave the mine expansion the go-ahead. Mr. Trump has signed executive orders aimed at expanding coal mining in the United States, including prioritizing coal mining on federal land.
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
