NTEC shuts down mine in dispute over sovereignty
Navajo business just bought huge Montana coal property
BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana’s largest coal mine was indefinitely shuttered by its new owners from the Navajo Nation on Thursday, in a dispute over whether the 275-worker operation should be immune from future lawsuits over environmental regulations.
The Navajo Transitional Energy Company blamed state officials for the impasse over the Spring Creek Mine near Decker. The company alleged that state officials demanded the company fully waive any sovereign immunity it would have as a tribal entity before beginning operations.
Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Rebecca Harbage said state officials never sought a complete waiver. She wouldn’t release further details citing ongoing negotiations with the company.
“Without some limited waiver of that sovereign immunity, DEQ or the public may not be able to enforce state environmental laws against NTEC (Navajo Transitional Energy Company),” Harbage said. “We’re trying to figure out what that limited waiver would look like, so they can continue with full production and they are adhering to environmental laws.”
The energy company is owned by the Navajo Nation but operates independently. It recently bought Spring Creek and two Wyoming mines at auction following the bankruptcy of former owner Cloud Peak Energy.
NETC chairman Tim McLaughlin said in a statement that the company has “done everything in our power” to assure state officials that it would operate under Montana laws.
“But we simply cannot consent to a full waiver of the rights preserved in our treaties,” McLaughlin added.
Spring Creek is one of the largest coal mines in the U.S. It produced almost 14 million tons of the fuel in 2017 for domestic power plants and shipment to customers in Asia.