Opposition to S. 362

A coalition of environmental and legal organizations is urging the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to oppose S. 362. The authors argue that the bill would permit destructive longwall mining of federal coal by Signal Peak Energy, LLC, bypassing required environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The statement highlights the mine's significant greenhouse gas emissions, its history of damaging water resources used by local ranchers, and the criminal records of Signal Peak Energy and its owners. The coalition asserts that the company has a pattern of violating environmental and safety laws and has aggressively avoided local taxes while harming the community.

• S. 362 would allow large-scale underground longwall mining of federal coal at the Bull Mountains Mine without an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
• The Bull Mountains Mine is identified as one of the largest underground coal mines and largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with a 7,000-acre expansion expected to generate more GHG emissions than the single largest source in the country.
• Mining operations have caused extensive subsidence and damaged water resources, including working water wells, which has harmed local ranching interests in the Bull Mountains.
• Signal Peak Energy, LLC and its owners have a history of criminal activity, including federal probation for lying to regulators about worker injuries and dumping toxic waste, as well as bribery schemes involving its owners FirstEnergy Corp. and Gunvor Group Ltd.
• The company has repeatedly violated environmental and safety regulations, including 156 Clean Water Act pollution limit violations in the past year and at least 1,700 MSHA violations since 2010.
• Signal Peak Energy has obtained millions of dollars in tax breaks from the Montana legislature and local authorities, including a $2 million abatement received this year.

APA

Earthjustice (2025). Opposition to S. 362. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/opposition-to-s.-362-2025.03.11.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Opposition to S. 362. 2025. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/opposition-to-s.-362-2025.03.11.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Opposition to S. 362 |date=11 March 2025 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/opposition-to-s.-362-2025.03.11.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2025opposition, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Opposition to S. 362}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/opposition-to-s.-362-2025.03.11.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }