Protecting Colorado’s Mountain Backcountry

Earthjustice is legally challenging Arch Coal's expansion plans in Colorado's West Elk Wilderness Area and Sunset Roadless Area. The case focuses on the illegality of road-building exemptions under the 2012 Colorado Roadless Rule and the environmental impact of the West Elk mine, which is Colorado's largest industrial source of methane.

• Earthjustice is working to stop Arch Coal from expanding coal mining operations in the Sunset Roadless Area adjacent to the West Elk Wilderness. This expansion would involve creating an industrial zone of roads and well pads in an area that provides habitat for the threatened lynx and supports the Sunset Trail.
• The West Elk mine is identified as the largest industrial source of methane in Colorado. Because the coal seams are among the gassiest in the United States, Arch Coal drills wells to vent methane—a greenhouse gas with 21 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide—into the atmosphere. The volume of methane vented is estimated to be sufficient to heat a city the size of Grand Junction.
• Conservation groups have challenged an exemption to the U.S. Forest Service’s 2012 Colorado Roadless Rule for the North Fork Coal Mining Area, which permitted roadbuilding for coal mining. Courts have ruled this exemption illegal on two occasions.

APA

Earthjustice (2020). Protecting Colorado’s Mountain Backcountry. https://earthjustice.org/case/protecting-colorado-s-mountain-backcountry

Chicago

Earthjustice. Protecting Colorado’s Mountain Backcountry. 2020. https://earthjustice.org/case/protecting-colorado-s-mountain-backcountry.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Protecting Colorado’s Mountain Backcountry |date=29 October 2020 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/protecting-colorado-s-mountain-backcountry |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2020protecting, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Protecting Colorado’s Mountain Backcountry}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/protecting-colorado-s-mountain-backcountry}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }