DENVER—An appeals board has upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to lease coal seams containing 786 acres of federal coal for development in Oxbow Mining LLC’s Elk Creek Mine in Gunnison County.
WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club had appealed the decision, citing concerns about methane escaping into the air during mining.
The Interior Board of Land Appeals on Wednesday affirmed the decision, but Oxbow Mining environmental manager James Kiger tells The Denver Post () the company will have to analyze potential methane capture.
The BLM estimates there are almost 4 million tons of recoverable federal coal tied to the tract, which would generate a total of $6.3 million in royalties for the federal government and Colorado.
Elk Creek Mine produced about 3 million tons of coal last year.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
