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Spring Creek Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Decker, Montana, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Mine Name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Spring Creek Coal Mine | Decker, Montana, United States | 45.0497, -106.7731 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:
Project Details
Table 2: Project status
| Status | Status Detail | Opening Year | Closing Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating[1] | – | 1980[1] | – |
Table 3: Operation details
| Capacity (Mtpa) | Production (Mtpa) | Year of Production | Mine Type | Mining Method | Mine Size (km2) | Mine Depth (m) | Workforce Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | 11.29898544[2] | 2023[2] | Surface | Open Pit | 2 | 45 | 251[2] |
Table 4: Coal resources and destination
| Total Reserves (Mt) | Year of Total Reserves Recorded | Total Resources (Mt) | Coalfield | Coal Type | Coal Grade | Primary Consumer/ Destination |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 196.1[1] | 2020[1] | – | Powder River Basin | Subbituminous | Thermal | – |
Table 5: Ownership and parent company
| Owner | Parent Company | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| Navajo Transitional Energy Company[3] | Navajo Nation | USA |
Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)
| ROM or Saleable | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROM[4] | 11.539389384[4] | 12.482861472[4] | 10.813641623999999[4] | 8.627326496999999[4] | 11.875047723[4] | 10.487055132[4] | 11.294449514999998[4] |
Expansion/Extension
Table 6: Project status
| Status | Status Detail | Project Type | Project Phase | Added Capacity (Mtpa)* | Start Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancelled | Permitted | Expansion | – | 4.5359235 | 2020 |
Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September and December supplements.
Background
Spring Creek Mine is a surface coal mine, operated by Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), and owned by the Navajo Nation, in Decker, Montana, United States. With a capacity of up to 36 million short tons per year, it is considered to be New Mexico's largest coal mine and is also one of the largest coal mines within the US.[5][6]
The mine was previously owned by Rio Tinto Energy America. In 2008, Rio Tinto spun off the most significant of its Powder River Basin coal assets, including the Spring Creek Mine, under new subsidiary Cloud Peak Energy.[7][8][9]
Current owner, NTEC, acquired the mine in 2019, after Cloud Peak Energy went bankrupt.[10]
Expansion
In 2013, then-owner Cloud Peak Energy proposed to expand the Spring Creek mine. The project would add 977 acres to the mine lease area which would allow an additional 72 million tons of coal to be mined, extending the mine's life by four years (from 2027 to 2031).[11][12]
The expansion, which has been decades in the making, has not gone without controversy.
In 2017, the environmental organization WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit against the US Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement, arguing that an environmental impact study was never completed for the site and the expansion would negatively impact both air quality and climate.[6] Guardians won this case, when in 2019, a US federal magistrate ruled that Cloud Energy's plans to expand the mine were insufficient because they failed to adequately consider the potential climate change impacts of expanding the mine.[13]
In March 2020, Montana state officials reached a deal with NTEC that would allow the state to enforce environmental laws at the Spring Creek coal mine. They also gave the project preliminary approval.[14] However, one year later, in February 2021, a U.S. District judge blocked the proposed expansion, ruling that the Office of Surface Mining failed to account for the future costs of greenhouse gas emissions and non-greenhouse gas air pollutants from coal mined at Spring Creek.[15]
Most recently, in March 2025, in a reversal of the 2021 ruling which deemed the initial analysis inadequate, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the mine extension was approved. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum had the following to say in regards to the about-face: "The previous administration waged a full-on assault against U.S. energy. Under President Trump's leadership, we're reversing that course, unleashing American energy, and ensuring our nation's security and prosperity."[16]
The expansion will allow nearly 40 million tons of coal to be mined over the next 16 years.[16]
External links
- "Major U.S. Coal Mines," Energy Information Administration
- "Air Quality Permit" Montana DEQ
Articles and Resources
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20240216224658/https://leg.mt.gov/content/Committees/Interim/2021-2022/Revenue/Meetings/September-2021/Schwend-Spring-Creek-slides.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20240213175031/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/statistics/mine-employment-and-coal-production. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "About NTEC – NTEC". Archived from the original on 2024-01-25. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 https://web.archive.org/web/20240717193400/https://www.msha.gov/data-and-reports/mine-data-retrieval-system. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ Spring Creek Mine, NTEC website, Accessed March 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Big win exposes the dirty truth about Montana’s largest coal mine", WildEarth Guardians, Accessed March 2025.
- ↑ Rio Tinto, 2009 Annual Report: Production & reserves: Group mines: Energy", Rio Tinto website, Archived from the original on 20 Dec 2019.
- ↑ Spring Creek Mine, Cloud Peak Energy website, Archived from the original on 3 Sept 2019.
- ↑ Spring Creek Mine, Mining Data Online, accessed June 2019.
- ↑ Spring Creek Mine 2021 Visitor Presentation, Navajo Transitional Energy Company, Accessed March 2025.
- ↑ Lutey, Tom, "Newly approved mine expansion could provide coal, and jobs, well into 2031" Billings Gazette, March 30, 2020.
- ↑ Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Spring Creek Mine TR1 Project Big Horn County Montana, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, March 2020.
- ↑ Spring Creek Mine Victory, Montana Environmental Information Center, 15 March 2019.
- ↑ "Montana, Navajo company reach deal on mine to waive immunity", SME Mining Engineering Magazine, 13 March 2020.
- ↑ Hettinger, Jonathan, Federal judge blocks expansion of Montana’s largest coal mine, Montana Free Press, 4 February 2021
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Interior Advances Energy Independence with Spring Creek Mine Expansion Approval", US Department of the Interior website, 13 March 2025.
