Federal panel gives OK to Montana coal railroad

BILLINGS – A federal panel has rejected an attempt by conservationists to halt the construction of a long-stalled 130-mile coal railroad that would open a new area of Montana to mining.

The Surface Transportation Board said opponents failed to show why the line needed further environmental review. The decision came Wednesday in response to a petition by the Northern Plains Resource Council and Montana rancher Mark Fix, who lives along the proposed railroad route.

“We believe that (the Tongue River Railroad Co.) should be allowed to move forward with this project without being subjected to the delay, costs and uncertainty that reopening this case now would cause,” the decision said.

The petition was one of several legal challenges by environmentalists seeking to stall Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s push for a major expansion of coal mining in the state.

They wanted the line reconsidered in light of the last year’s leasing of the state-owned Otter Creek coal tracts to Arch Coal Inc. of St. Louis. Also, since the railroad got its first approval more than 25 years ago, substantial scientific research has linked the burning of coal to global warming, the opponents said.