Montana Environmental Information Center v. U.S. Office of Surface Mining

On October 25 and against on October 30, the Ninth Circuit said the mining company's appeal was not yet effective and held it in abeyance pending the district court’s resolution of the emergency motion seeking to amend the judgment.

In an opinion issued on November 3 to explain the basis of the October 31 order, the court considered the factors for a permanent injunction. The court concluded that although the removal of federal coal would be an irreparable injury with consequences such as greenhouse gas emissions that could not be addressed through alternative judicial remedies, the balance of the hardships and the public interest warranted a “limited modification.” The court found that the “blanket injunction” it originally issued would not completely address the harms of coal mining because mining of private coal would continue at the mine regardless of the scope of the injunction; the court found that a blanket injunction would, however, inflict economic harm on the coal company’s employees and the local community.

On October 31, 2017, the federal district court for the District of Montana modified its August 2017 injunction barring mining of federal coal within an area subject to a mining plan modification for which the court had vacated the environmental assessment. The October 31 order permitted the mining company to conduct development work within federal coal in one section of the mining plan area, but ordered that the amount of federal coal “displaced” not exceed 170,000 tons. The court also required that the federal coal be stockpiled and stored at the mine and that it not be sold or shipped. In its August decision, the court had found that the Office of Surface Mining failed to comply with NEPA, including by failing to take a hard look at foreseeable greenhouse gas emissions and at the impacts of coal transportation.

The mining company appealed both the October 2 order and the court’s August 2017 decision to the Ninth Circuit and requested emergency relief.