Montana officials cheer on federal approval of Signal Peak mine operations

Seaborn Larson

Montana officials on Friday cheered on the announcement that Signal Peak coal mine's permit has been approved to expand its operations in the Bull Mountains.

The permit approval authorizes Signal Peak Energy, LLC to extract 22.8 million tons of federal coal and 34.5 million tons of adjacent non-federal coal, which the agency said would extend the mine's operations another nine years.

The U.S. Department of Interior on Friday called the approval a "key step in advancing" President Donald J. Trump's domestic energy agenda, which included declaring a "national energy emergency" on the first day of his second term.

The coal extracted from the Signal Peak mine is primarily exported to Japan and South Korea.

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