Groups question permit for Utah's first strip mine

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah regulators testified Thursday they used the best science and technology to evaluate the environmental impacts of the state's first strip mine for coal.

Environmental groups are seeking to block the project, saying the strip mine would pollute ground water, raise dust and foul air quality 10 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, which is known for its views, pristine air and sparkling night skies. Bryce Canyon's superintendent also has objected.

The Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and two other groups are challenging the state's approval for the strip mine in an administrative trial that opened Thursday.

Hearings will resume today and continue May 20-21. A decision by the Utah Board of Oil, Gas and Mining is expected to take months longer.

"They don't want a surface mine, but state law allows it," said Bennett E. Bayer, a Kentucky mining lawyer representing Alton Coal Development LLC, which is based in Naples, Fla.

Dan Dean, deputy director of Utah's mining agency, testified Thursday that regulators judged the strip mine no differently than any other coal operation. "This was not an arbitrary decision," she said.

Alton Coal Development got fast-track approval after complaining in a meeting with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert that regulators were taking too long to make a decision.

A company representative sat down with Herbert Sept. 17, the same day the governor's campaign was depositing a $10,000 contribution from the coal company. Critics assert the donation influenced the Herbert administration's decision, but the governor's office has said he never ordered regulators to give their approval and wasn't aware of the donation.

A 33-page memo from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining said the result of the coal company's September meeting with the Republican governor was to fast-track a decision by regulators. Priscilla Burton, a chief environmental scientist for the agency who wrote the memo, noted regulators had a full year to make a decision and agreed to wrap things up Oct. 15. Approval came four days later.

Alton opened an application for a permit in 2005 and went through a grueling analysis to win approval, Bayer said.

"This application was years long in review and cost millions of dollars," he told The Associated Press during a break in Thursday's hearing.