DENVER—Conservation groups have filed an administrative appeal challenging a U.S. Forest Service decision approving plans to expand Arch Coal Inc.’s West Elk coal mine in Somerset.
Earthjustice filed its appeal Monday with the regional forest in Denver on behalf of various groups who say the August decision violates environmental laws.
They say it threatens to turn the Sunset Colorado Roadless Area into an industrial zone with roads and wells that would be drilled to vent methane from the mine.
The Forest Service this year finalized a Colorado-specific roadless rule, which carved out exceptions to a national rule that limits development in roadless lands in national forests. Colorado’s rule, which was developed with input from state interests, allows for limited exceptions for coal mining activity.
