There could be eight times more coal mining near Bryce Canyon National Park under a revised leasing plan from the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management.
In the face of fierce opposition from environmental groups, Utah-based Alton Coal Development has long sought to lease 3,600 acres to mine nearly 45 million tons of coal near its existing Coal Hollow Mine in Kane County.
On Thursday, the BLM released a final environmental impact statement (EIS) endorsing the proposed lease, though the agency points to a scaled-back plan to extract 30.8 million tons as the preferred alternative.