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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.

Dr. W. Payton Gardner's review concludes that the PHC and GMR for the Bull Mountain Mine contain significant omissions and non-conservative assumptions. The review highlights a failure to quantitatively analyze impacts on over 50 local springs and shallow groundwater wells, a groundwater model that ignores fracture flow processes and incorrectly assumes 'healing' in mudstone layers, and a mitigation strategy relying on the UB2A sandstone aquifer that is likely insufficient in both volume and water quality.