ALASKA CALIFORNIA FLORIDA MID-PACIFIC NORTHEAST NORTHERN ROCKIES 

NORTHWEST ROCKY MOUNTAIN WASHINGTON, DC INTERNATIONAL 

1400 GLENARM PLACE, SUITE 300 DENVER, CO 80202-5050 

T: 303.623.9466 F: 303.623.8083 E: rmoffice@earthjustice.org W: www.earthjustice.org 

June 16, 2010 

Hon. Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator 

United States Environmental Protection Agency 

Ariel Rios Building 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Mail Code 1101A 

Washington, DC 20460 

Email: Jackson.Lisap@epa.gov

Petition for Rulemaking Under the Clean Air Act 

to List Coal Mines as a Source Category and 

to Regulate Methane and Other Harmful Air Emissions from Coal Mining 

Facilities Under Section 111 

Dear Administrator Jackson: 

Earthjustice, on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, the 

Environmental Integrity Project, and Sierra Club (collectively, “Petitioners”), hereby petitions 

you and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), pursuant to the Administrative 

Procedure Act and the Clean Air Act, to exercise your authorities under Section 111 of the Clean 

Air Act and: (1) list coal mines as a category of stationary sources that emit air pollution which 

may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare; (2) establish federal 

standards of performance for new and modified sources within the newly listed stationary source 

category for coal mines; and (3) establish federal standards of performance to address methane 

emissions from existing sources within the newly listed stationary source category for coal 

mines. 

INTRODUCTION

This petition asks EPA to discharge its duty to confront and control the adverse air 

quality impacts of coal mines in the United States. As will be explained in this petition, air 

pollution from coal mining activities poses myriad negative impacts to public health and the 

environment. It is undisputed that coal mines release air pollution that causes or contributes to 

the endangerment of public health and welfare. This petition seeks to spur the development of 

cost-effective controls to reduce harmful air emissions from coal mining, in particular controls to 

reduce or eliminate methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to both spur economic development and 

confront the effects of global warming. 

Global warming is one of the largest threats to the public’s well-being and one of the 

most pressing environmental challenges of our time. This challenge stems from the excessive, 

human-caused release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. To this end, the EPA has found that 

six specific greenhouse gases together, “endanger public health and the public welfare of current 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 2 

June 16, 2010 

and future generations.”1 The EPA has noted “the case for finding that greenhouse gases in the 

atmosphere endanger public health and welfare is compelling and, indeed, overwhelming.”2

 

Concentrations of greenhouse gases3 are increasing in the Earth’s atmosphere at a rate far faster 

than in pre-industrial history,4

 trapping solar energy that would otherwise be radiated back into 

space.5

 This anthropogenic phenomenon is having profound impacts on the health and welfare 

of people worldwide through: rises in global temperatures, more extreme weather events, severe 

flooding and droughts, the spread of infectious diseases, and the extinction of numerous species.6

 While much of the current discussion about greenhouse gas regulation has centered 

around carbon dioxide, methane is a harmful greenhouse gas that continues to be emitted into the 

atmosphere at an alarming rate. One of the largest sources of methane is coal mining. Methane 

is not only a potent greenhouse gas, it is a major health and safety risk. 

 Along with methane, coal mining also releases a number of other pollutants that are 

known to endanger public health and welfare. Fortunately, technology is currently available to 

significantly reduce, or even eliminate methane and other harmful emissions from coal mining 

processes. 

 Therefore, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553(e), and the 

Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7411 and 7607, Petitioners file this Petition for Rulemaking and 

respectfully request that you undertake the following mandatory duties: 

(1) List coal mines as a category of stationary sources that emit air pollution which may 

reasonably be anticipated to “endanger public health or welfare” in accordance with 42 

U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(A); 

(2) Establish federal “standards of performance” for new and modified sources within the 

newly listed stationary source category for coal mines in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(b)(1)(B); and 

 

1

 U.S. EPA, ENDANGERMENT AND CAUSE OR CONTRIBUTE FINDINGS FOR GREENHOUSE GASES UNDER SECTION 

202(A) OF THE CLEAN AIR ACT, 74 Fed. Reg. 66496, 66496 (December 15, 2009) (hereafter “Final Endangerment 

Finding”). 

2

 U.S. EPA, PROPOSED ENDANGERMENT AND CAUSE OR CONTRIBUTE FINDINGS FOR GREENHOUSE GASES UNDER 

SECTION 202(A) OF THE CLEAN AIR ACT, 74 Fed. Reg. 18886, 18904 (April 24, 2009) (hereafter “Proposed 

Endangerment Finding”). 

3

 “Greenhouse gases” are atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming. See supra note 1 at 66497 

(specifically determining that “six long-lived and directly-emitted greenhouse gases,” including carbon dioxide, 

methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride, pose an endangerment to 

public health and welfare). 

4

 Methane’s atmospheric concentration has “tripled since pre-industrial times.” P. Bousquet, et al., Contribution of 

Anthropogenic and Natural Sources to Atmospheric Methane Variability, 443:28 NATURE 439, 439 (Sept. 2006). 

5 Supra note 1 at 66499. 

6 Id. at 66517-66521; see U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN THE 

UNITED STATES 9 (2009), available at http://downloads.globalchange.gov/usimpacts/pdfs/climate-impactsreport.pdf) (last viewed June 15, 2009), attached as Exh. 1 (stating that, “[o]bservations show that warming of the 

climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced 

emissions of heat-trapping gases.”). 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 3 

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(3) Concurrently establish federal “standards of performance” to address emissions of 

methane from existing facilities within the newly listed stationary source category for 

coal mines in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d)(1) and 40 C.F.R. § 60.22. 

 Petitioners hereby request a substantive response to this petition within one hundred 

eighty (180) calendar days. Given the urgent threats to public health and welfare posed by 

global climate change, we request that prompt consideration be given to this petition. 

BACKGROUND 

I. PETITIONERS

 WildEarth Guardians is a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based nonprofit organization with 

offices in Denver, Phoenix, and Oakland. WildEarth Guardians is dedicated to protecting and 

restoring the wildlife, wild places, and wild rivers of the American West, and to safeguarding the 

Earth’s climate. WildEarth Guardians has members throughout the American West that are, and 

will continue to be, affected by global climate change. WildEarth Guardians and its members 

work to reduce harmful air pollution to safeguard public health, welfare, and the environment. 

 The Center for Biological Diversity works through science, law, and creative media to 

secure a future for all species, great or small, hovering on the brink of extinction. The Center’s 

Climate Law Institute develops and implements legal campaigns to limit global warming and 

other air pollution. The Center has over 225,000 members and online activists with a vital 

interest in the immediate reduction of greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act as one of 

the primary solutions to the climate crisis. 

 The Environmental Integrity Project combines research, reporting, media outreach, and 

the litigation to ensure that environmental laws are enforced, are effective, and inform and 

empower the public. 

The Sierra Club is a national nonprofit organization of approximately 1.3 million 

members and supporters dedicated to exploring, enjoying, and protecting the wild places of the 

earth; to practicing and promoting the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to 

educating and enlisting humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human 

environment; and to using all lawful means to carry out these objectives. The Sierra Club’s 

concerns encompass air pollution, climate change, and human health impacts from coal mines.

II. STATUTORY AUTHORITY

 The Administrator has the authority under the Clean Air Act to control greenhouse gas 

emissions and other harmful air pollutants through her authority to list stationary sources and 

establish federal standards of performance. 

A. The Administrator has the authority to list coal mining facilities as a 

stationary source. 

 The Clean Air Act provides the Administrator with the authority to list new categories of 

stationary sources if they cause, or contribute significantly to, “air pollution which may 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 4 

June 16, 2010 

reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” 42 U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(A). 

The Administrator is statutorily required to continually revise the published list by adding new 

stationary sources. Id. The Clean Air Act defines “Stationary Source” as “any building, 

structure, facility or installation which emits or may emit any air pollutant.” 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(a)(3). An “Air Pollutant” is defined as “any air pollution agent or combination of such 

agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, radioactive ... substance or matter which is 

emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air.” 42 U.S.C. § 7602(g). 

B. The Administrator has a duty to establish federal “standards of 

performance” for new and modified coal mining facilities. 

Once coal mining facilities are listed as a stationary source, the Clean Air Act requires 

that the Administrator establish federal “standards of performance” for new and modified 

sources, within one year of the listing. 42 U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(B). These proposed regulations 

will be subject to a written comment period and the Administrator will promulgate final 

regulations for new and modified coal mining facilities no more than a year later. Id. “Standard 

of performance” is defined as “a standard for emissions of air pollutants which reflects the 

degree of emission limitation achievable through the application of the best system of emission 

reduction which ... the Administrator determines has been adequately demonstrated.” 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(a)(1). 

C. The Administrator has a duty to establish federal “standards of 

performance” for existing coal mining facilities. 

 Concurrent with establishing “standards of performance” for new and modified sources, 

the Clean Air Act also requires the Administrator to establish “standards of performance” for 

existing sources, otherwise known as “designated facilities.” Such “standards of performance” 

are only to address a “designated pollutant,” or an air pollutant for which air quality criteria have 

not been established pursuant to Section 108 of the Clean Air Act, that is emitted from a facility 

not listed as a source category listed under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, and that would 

otherwise be regulated under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act if an existing source were a new 

source. 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d)(1)(A)(i) and (ii); 40 C.F.R. § 60.21(a). “Standards of performance” 

for existing sources are to be implemented and enforced by States, and must be based on an 

“emission guideline” published by the Administrator in accordance with 40 C.F.R. § 60.22. An 

“emission guideline” must reflect “the application of the best system of emission reduction 

(considering the cost of such reduction) that has been adequately demonstrated for designated 

facilities, and the time within which compliance with emission standards of equivalent 

stringency can be achieved.” 40 C.F.R. § 60.22(b)(5). A State must adopt and submit to the 

Administrator a plan for the control of “designated pollutants” from “designated facilities” 

within nine months of the Administrator’s publication of final emission guidelines. 40 C.F.R. 

§ 60.23(a). 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 5 

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III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Global climate change and effects of greenhouse gases 

 The science determining that greenhouse gases are contributing to global climate change 

is conclusive and well established. The EPA’s Final Endangerment Finding explicitly states, 

“[t]he scientific evidence is compelling that elevated concentrations of heat-trapping gases are 

the root cause of recently observed climate change.”7

 The EPA based the Endangerment Finding 

on scientific assessments prepared and presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change’s (“IPCC”), the U.S. Global Climate Research Program (“USGCRP”), and the National 

Research Council (“NRC”), which the EPA explains “are recent and represent the current state 

of knowledge on the key elements for the endangerment analysis.”8 As the EPA is aware, the 

IPCC’s most recent assessment report indicates that global climate change is more than 

imminent; it is happening now.9

 

 The EPA’s Final Endangerment Finding was spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling 

in Massachusetts v. E.P.A., in which the Court acknowledged that “[t]he harms associated with 

climate change are serious and well recognized .... [including] a precipitate rise in sea levels, 

severe and irreversible changes to natural ecosystems, a significant reduction in winter snowpack 

with direct and important economic consequences, and increases in the spread of disease and the 

ferocity of weather events.” Massachusetts v. E.P.A., 549 U.S. 497, 499 (2007). This decision 

not only bolsters the EPA’s Final Endangerment Finding, but indicates the agency is obligated to 

act now to regulate greenhouse gases in all sectors in an effort to curb climate change as “the 

effects will only worsen over time in the absence of regulatory action.”10

B. Methane 

 First and foremost, methane is a safety hazard and known public health risk. As the EPA 

has stated, methane can create “an explosive hazard to coal miners.”11 The EPA has even taken 

steps to regulate methane under the NSPS in recognition of the fact that “methane emissions 

present a well-documented danger of fire and explosion on-site and off-site[.]”12

 

7 Supra note 1, at 66518. 

8 Id. at 66511. 

9

 IPCC, CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: SYNTHESIS REPORT, SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKER (Feb. 2007) at 5, available at 

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf (last visited June 15, 2010), attached as Exh. 2. 

10 Supra note 2, at 18904. 

11 U.S. EPA, Coalbed Methane Outreach Program: Basic Information, 

http://www.epa.gov/cmop/basic.html#methane (last visited June 15, 2010) (for example, explaining that methane is 

an explosive gas and concentrations of methane must be kept below 1% for safety reasons; noting explosive nature 

of gas). 

12 U.S. EPA, STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE FOR NEW STATIONARY SOURCES AND GUIDELINES FOR CONTROL OF 

EXISTING SOURCES: MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS; FINAL RULE AND GUIDELINE, 61 Fed. Reg. 9905-9944 

(March 12, 1996) at 9906. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 6 

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However, methane is also an important greenhouse gas. Methane is the second most 

emitted greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide, and is more than twenty times more potent than 

carbon dioxide in terms of its heat trapping capabilities.13 In 2004, methane accounted for 14.3% 

of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission load.14 Since pre-industrial times, methane 

has contributed to 22.9% of the greenhouse gas load in the Earth’s atmosphere.15 Methane is 

“more abundant in the Earth’s atmosphere now than it has been at any time during the past 

400,000 years,” and the average atmospheric concentration of methane has increased 150% since 

1750.16 High concentrations of methane are “the unambiguous result of human activities.”17 

 Because of methane’s potency as a greenhouse gas, EPA has concluded that out of all the 

non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases, methane “has the greatest mitigation potential.”18 This is 

also in part because methane has a significantly short atmospheric lifespan compared to the 

lifespan of carbon dioxide.19 Thus, reducing methane emissions could have a greater effect in 

the short term to mitigate potential climate change harms. 

 In addition, methane also contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone pollution, a 

harmful air pollutant that is also the key ingredient of smog. Ozone is designated a “criteria air 

pollutant” pursuant to Section 108 of the Clean Air Act and National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards (“NAAQS”) have been promulgated to limit ozone throughout the United States 

pursuant to Section 109 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7409.20 According to the EPA, ozone 

“can reduce lung function and inflame airways, which can increase respiratory symptoms and 

aggravate asthma or other lung diseases,” and can increase “the risk of premature death from 

heart or lung disease.”21 In part due to global increases in methane emissions, background ozone 

concentrations have “roughly doubled since preindustrial times.”22 Recent studies have 

 

13 U.S. EPA, Methane: Science, http://www.epa.gov/methane/scientific.html (last visited June 15, 2010). The IPCC 

has actually determined that methane has a global warming potential 72 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20 

year time period and 25 times over a 100 year period. See supra note 9. 

14 Supra note 9 at 5. 

15 U.S. EPA, Climate Change – Climate Economics, 

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/economics/international.html (last visited June 15, 2010). 

16 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: OFFICE OF ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS, GLOBAL MITIGATION OF 

NON-CO2 GREENHOUSE GASES (2006) at I-3, available at 

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/economics/downloads/GlobalMitigationFullReport.pdf (last viewed June 15, 

2010) (hereafter “Global Mitigation Report”). 

17 Supra note 1 at 66517. 

18 Supra note 16 at 1-21. 

19 Supra note 6 at 23 (stating that “[r]educing emissions of some shorter-lived greenhouse gases, such as methane, 

and some types of particles, such as soot, would begin to reduce the warming influence within weeks to decades.”). 

20 See 40 C.F.R § 50.10. 

21 U.S. EPA, “Fact Sheet: Proposal to Revise the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone” (2010), 

available at http://www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/pdfs/fs20100106std.pdf (last viewed June 15, 2010). 

22 See West, J., et al., “Global health benefits of mitigating ozone pollution with methane emission controls,” 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103 (Mar. 14, 2006) at 3988, 

attached as Exh. 3. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 7 

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recommended reducing methane to reduce global background ozone levels and better protect 

public health.23

C. Coal mines and coal mine methane

 The coal mining industry is one of the largest emitters of methane in the United States, 

accounting for more than 10% of human methane emissions.24 Methane is a byproduct of 

coalification, or the process by which organic materials convert into coal.25 It is stored 

throughout the surrounding rock strata in varying sized pockets and, due to the greater 

overburden pressures, often increases in concentration the deeper the coal seam.26 Because 

methane can create hazardous working conditions for miners, it must be removed from 

underground mines.27 While methane escapes during the processing, transport, and storage of 

coal, 90% of the emissions28 come from the actual coal mining process.29 Methane is emitted 

from all three categories of coal mines: surface mines, underground mines, and abandoned 

mines.30 The United States is the second largest emitter of coal mine methane, after China, with 

10.5% of our total methane emissions coming from coal mines.31 This ongoing problem is 

further intensified by new coal mines opening each year. In 2003 alone, four new gassy mines 

opened and began emitting methane into the atmosphere.32

 

23 Id. 

24 The total inventory includes methane emissions from active and abandoned coal mines. See U.S. EPA, 

INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND SINKS: 1990-2007 (2009) at 3-36, available at

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads09/GHG2007entire_report-508.pdf (last viewed June 15, 

2010). 

25 Supra note 16 at II-1. 

26 Id. 

27 Supra note 11. 

28 “An underground mine is where coal is produced by tunneling into the earth to the coalbed, which is then mined 

with equipment such as cutting machines and continuous, long wall, and shortfall mining machines. Underground 

mines are classified according to the type of opening used to reach the coal, i.e., drift (level tunnel), slope (inclined 

tunnel), or shaft (vertical tunnel). In contrast, surface mines are mines that are usually within a few hundred feet of 

the surface. Earth and rock above or around the coal (overburden) is removed to expose the coalbed, which is then 

mined with surface excavation equipment such as draglines, power shovels, bulldozers, loaders, and augers. Surface 

mines include: area, contour, open-pit, strip, and auger mines.” U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:

OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION, TECHNICAL SUPPORT DOCUMENT FOR UNDERGROUND COAL MINES: PROPOSED 

RULE FOR MANDATORY REPORTING OF GREENHOUSE GASES 3 (2009), available at

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads/tsd/TSD%20Coal%20Mining%2002%2004%2009_1.pdf

(last viewed June 15, 2010). 

29 Id.; supra note 11. 

30 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, COAL MINING, U.S. METHANE EMISSIONS 1990 – 2020:

INVENTORIES, PROJECTIONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR REDUCTIONS (1999) at 4-2, available at 

http://www.epa.gov/methane/reports/04-coal.pdf (last viewed June 15, 2010). For the purposes of this petition, any 

reference to “coal mining” activities or operations refers to any activity or operation that falls under major Standard 

Industrial Classification (“SIC”) code 12, or coal mining, whether related to active or abandoned mining operations. 

31 As compared to worldwide total of 6%. Id. at 2-17. 

32 Id. at 1-15. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 8 

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 1. Underground coal mines 

 Underground mines are used to extract coal from deep within the ground. Within the 

coal mining sector, underground mines emit the largest portion of methane into the atmosphere.33 

According to the EPA, active underground mines produce 61% of all coal mine methane 

emissions.34 The EPA also estimates that in 2007, active underground coal mines emitted 

28.01% of the methane emissions from the United States energy sector.35 The total emissions 

from active coal mines was estimated to be 2,744,000 metric tons of methane annually and an 

additional 273,000 metric tons of methane from abandoned underground coal mines.36 Despite 

an industry-wide shift away from underground mining and toward surface mining, twenty of the 

top fifty producing U.S. Coal Mines are still underground.37 Of these, the largest emitting 

underground coal mines emit up to 72,000,000 cubic feet of methane per day, or over 506,985 

metric tons annually, showing what an enormous difference one gassy mine can make for total 

methane emissions.38 

 The EPA has already concluded that recovering methane from coal mines would 

significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere because every 

ton of methane recovered is equal to approximately more than twenty tons of carbon dioxide 

emissions.39 Yet even with the shift away from underground mining, these mines still emit a 

larger portion of methane than surface mines. In 2006, only 31% of the coal mined in the United 

States came from underground mines, but these mines generated over 60% of coal mining 

methane emissions.40 

 The two types of systems the U.S. underground coal mines currently use to accomplish 

methane removal are ventilation systems and degasification systems.41 Ventilation systems 

exchange air in the mine with air at the surface to dilute the concentrations of methane. The 

methane is allowed to passively enter the atmosphere once it reaches the surface of the mine.42 

 

33 Supra note 28. 

34 Id.

35 Supra note 24, at 3-2 

36 Id. 

37 Mines that produce 4 million short tons or more of coal are considered “major mines.” These twenty major 

underground coal mines are located in Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Utah, and 

West Virginia. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, ANNUAL COAL REPORT 2007, 

23 (2009), available at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/FTPROOT/coal/05842007.pdf, attached as Exh. 4.

38 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES FOR METHANE RECOVERY AT U.S.

COAL MINES: PROFILES OF SELECTED GASSY UNDERGROUND COAL MINES 2002-2006 at 5-11 (2008), available at 

http://www.epa.gov/coalbed/docs/profiles_2008_final.pdf (last viewed June 15, 2010). 

39 Id. at 2-17. 

40 Id. 

41 Id. 

42 Id. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 9 

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In mines that do not recover methane, over 40% of their total methane emissions comes directly 

from drainage vents.43

 Sometimes a basic ventilation system is too inefficient to remove larger amounts of 

methane from a mine so degasification systems, or drainage systems, are installed. These 

systems use wells to vent methane prior to, or during the mining of a seam.44 All of the 120 

gassy underground coal mines in the United States utilize a ventilation system to keep methane 

levels at a safe concentration, and 20 of these mines also employ degasification systems.45 

 While methane is a danger in coal mines, it can, if captured, be a valuable commodity: 

natural gas. To date, underground mines have the most potential to generate a profitable amount 

of methane for natural gas.46 Mines that have adopted a “methane to markets” program as 

promoted by the EPA have been successful at methane capture and sale because research has 

been developing for over three decades to create the best technologies, coals seams in the United 

States contain a higher concentration of methane, and the market for natural gas in the United 

States has remained strong.47 However, many mines still vent methane into the atmosphere 

without any attempt to capture or combust the gas.48

 2. Surface coal mines 

For coal seams located closer to the surface, mining companies employ surface mining 

techniques like strip mining and mountain-top removal.49 The shallower the coal seam, the less 

overburden and pressure there is to keep methane in the seam. Shallower seams thus tend to 

have lower concentrations of methane.50 Methane escapes into the surface as the overburden is 

removed to expose the coal.51 In 1997, the EPA estimated that, even though surface mines 

accounted for over 61% of the coal production in the United States, they only accounted for 14% 

of coal mine methane emissions.52 More recent data shows that emissions from surface mines 

account for 22% of coal mine fugitive emissions.53

 

43 Id. 

44 Id. 

45 Supra note 24 at 3-33. 

46 K.H. Schultz Climate Mitigation Works Limited and C.C. Talkington, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Evolution of US Markets for Coal Mine Methane, (2003), available at

http://www.coalinfo.net.cn/coalbed/meeting/2203/papers/coal-mining/CM057.pdf (last viewed June 15, 2010). 

47 Id. 

48 Supra note 38 at 5-12. 

49 Supra note 30 at 4-2. 

50 Id. 

51 Id. 

52 Id. 

53 Supra note 28 at 5. 
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 3. Post-mined and underground abandoned coal mines 

Even after coal extraction from an underground mine ceases, that mine still actively emits 

methane into the atmosphere. These emissions can be significant. The EPA has estimated that 

abandoned underground coal mines can emit 8% of the total coal mine methane emissions and 

post mining operations emit as much as 22%.54 Because these mines were once active 

underground mines, the same technologies as those applies to active mines can be used, postmining, to extract methane.55 The EPA has reported that there are several thousand abandoned 

coal mines throughout the United States and as many as 400 that are considered to be “gassy.”56

 D. Coal mines and other pollutants 

 In addition to methane, coal mines also emit other constituents that cause or contribute 

significantly to air pollution and that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health 

and welfare. 

 Particulate matter: Particulate matter, including total suspended particulates, PM10, and 

PM2.5, is released by coal mining operations. Particulate matter is a criteria pollutant for 

which NAAQS have been established pursuant to Section 109 of the Clean Air Act, 42 

U.S.C. § 7409.57 According to EPA’s AP-42 compendium of emission factors, coal 

mining activities that can lead to the release of particulate matter, at least in the western 

United States, include blasting, truck loading, bulldozing, dragline operation, vehicle 

traffic, grading, and storage piles.58 Recent environmental analyses prepared by the U.S. 

Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) and U.S. Forest Service (“USFS”) attest to the 

fact that coal mining operations—both underground and surface—can release significant 

amounts of particulate matter.59 In some cases, particulate matter from coal mining has 

 

54 Supra note 28. 

55 Id. at 7. 

56 Id. 

57 See 40 C.F.R. §§ 50.6, 50.7, and 50.13. 

58 U.S. EPA, AP-42 COMPILATION OF AIR POLLUTANT EMISSION FACTORS, VOLUME I: STATIONARY POINT AND 

AREA SOURCES, Fifth Edition (1995) at 11.9, available at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch11/final/c11s09.pdf

(last viewed June 15, 2010). 

59 See e.g., BLM, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS,

Wyoming Bureau of Land Management at 3-38—3-64 (June 2009), available at 

www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/hpdo/Wright-Coal.Par.74001.File.dat/DEIS.pdf (last 

viewed June 15, 2010), excerpt attached as Exh. 5 (disclosing PM10 impacts from proposed coal leases and 

associated surface mining activities); BLM, FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PIT 14 COAL LEASE BY 

APPLICATION, Wyoming Bureau of Land Management at 125 (2007), available at 

www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/rsfodocs/pit14/feis.Par.47265.File.dat/00feis.pdf, 

attached as Exh. 6 (disclosing the following sources of PM10 emissions: primary crusher, secondary crusher, train 

loadout, belt transfer, pit 8 truck dump, main stockpile, pit 10 haul road, pit 10 production, pit 11 haul road, pit 11 

production, pit 14 haul road, pit 14 production, pit 3 reclamation, pit 8 reclamation, pit 8 stockpile, service road, 

disturbed acres); and USFS, FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT DEER CREEK SHAFT AND E SEAM 

METHANE DRAINAGE WELLS PROJECT, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison National Forest at 59 (August 2007), 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 11 

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caused or contributed to exceedances of the PM10 NAAQS. For instance, the BLM 

reports that “[f]rom 2001 through 2006, there were a total of nine exceedances of the 24-

hour PM10 particulate standards associated with the Black Thunder, Jacobs Ranch, and 

North Antelope Rochelle mines” in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin and “[i]n 2007, a 

total of three 24-hour PM10 exceedances were reported at these three mines (two at North 

Antelope Rochelle, [and] one at Black Thunder.”60 

The EPA has recognized that monitoring data and modeling data for the Powder River 

Basin “suggests potentially significant project-specific and cumulative PM10 impacts 

caused by existing or future development.”61 The EPA has also pointed out that recent 

modeling prepared in the Powder River Basin “projects exceedances of both PM10 and 

PM2.5 for both annual and 24-hour NAAQS in Wyoming in 2015.”62

The EPA itself has recognized a need for more rigorous control of PM2.5 and PM10 from 

coal mining operations, particularly in the Powder River Basin. In comments on the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Wright Area Coal Lease 

Applications in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, the agency urged the BLM to “add 

additional mitigation measures to reduce fugitive dust emissions.”63 The EPA has called 

on the BLM to analyze “more effective dust control measures” in the Powder River Basin 

and to “detail mitigation and monitoring measures that will be undertaken to minimize 

exposure to particulates” with regards to coal mining in the Powder River Basin.64

 Volatile organic compounds: Volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”), including nonmethane organic compounds, are often vented along with methane, from coal mining 

operations. For example, the EPA noted that a recently proposed coal mine in western 

Colorado, the Red Cliff mine, would vent methane that “may have low concentrations of 

nonmethane organic compounds.”65 The EPA noted that “given the high methane 

emission rates associated with the mine, the NMOC [non-methane organic compound] 

 attached as Exh. 7 (disclosing that PM10 and PM2.5 emissions would come from equipment used during construction 

and operation of maintenance roads, methane drainage wells, and ventilation/escapeway shaft). 

60 Exh 5, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS at 3-39. 

61 U.S. EPA, Comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement for West Antelope II Coal Lease Application at 

page 1 (April 22, 2008), available at 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20080038/$file/20080038.PDF?OpenElement, attached as

Exh. 8.

62 U.S. EPA, Comments on South Gillette Area Coal Lease Applications Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 

cover letter at page 2 (December 19, 2008), available at

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20080426/$file/20080426.PDF?OpenElement, attached as

Exh. 9.

63 U.S. EPA, Comments on Draft EIS for Wright Area Coal Lease Applications at page 1 (September 10, 2009), 

attached as Exh. 10. 

64 Supra. note 62. 

65 U.S. EPA, Comments on Proposed Red Cliff Mine Project at 3 (March 31, 2009), available at

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20090005/$file/20090005.PDF?OpenElement, attached as

Exh. 11.
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 12 

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emission rates may be considerable.”66 VOCs are precursors to ground-level ozone, a 

criteria air pollutant for which NAAQS have been established, and are regulated under 

the Clean Air Act.67

The EPA’s own national emission inventory shows that coal mines can be large sources 

of VOC emissions. According to 2002 inventory data, coal mining operations, or 

activities falling under the major SIC code of 12, released more than 1,790 tons of VOCs 

in the United States. See Table below. 

 

66 Id. 

67 See 40 C.F.R. § 51.100(s). 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 13 

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Coal mine VOC emissions in the U.S.68

 Emissions 

(tons/year) Facility Name County State 

2.86 East Gulf Prep Plant - Left Fork Proces Raleigh Co WV 

4.1 Thunder Basin Coal_Black Thunder Campbell Co WY 

4.48 Transalta Centralia Mining Llc Lewis Co WA 

7.67 Pbs Coal Inc/Shade Creek Plt Somerset Co PA 

12.4 Consolidation Coal Company-Robinson Run Harrison Co WV 

12.7 A T Massey/Knox Creek Coal Corporation Tazewell Co VA 

12.8 Island Creek Coal Company/Virginia Pocah Buchanan Co VA 

16 Blackwatch Coal Prep Plant #3 Buchanan Co VA 

17.9 Consol Coal Co/Robena Prep Plt Greene Co PA 

22.7 Island Creek Coal Co-Virginia Pocahontas Buchanan Co VA 

26 Pc Virginia Synthetic Fuel # 1 Llc Wise Co VA 

26.4 Jewell Smokless Coal Corporation Buchanan Co VA 

29.8 Consolidation Coal Co - Amonate McDowell Co WV 

31.1 Keystone #2-Herndon Processing Company Wyoming Co WV 

37.3 Second Sterling Corp - Keystone No 1 McDowell Co WV 

40.8 Paramont Coal Company Virginia Wise Co VA 

42.6 Dickenson-Russell Coal Co /Moss #3 Prep Russell Co VA 

47.6 Dickenson-Russell Coal Co/Mcclure River Dickenson Co VA 

53 Pigeon Creek Processing Llc Wise Co VA 

57.1 Powell Mountain Coal Preparation Plant Lee Co VA 

64.5 Paramont Coal Co Virginia Llc Wise Co VA 

66.7 Pocahontas No 51 Preparation Plant Wyoming Co WV 

68.5 Consol- Blacksville #2 Preparation Plant Monongalia Co WV 

92.7 Oak Grove Resources Llc Jefferson Co AL 

111 Consolidation Coal Co - Buchanan Mine #1 Buchanan Co VA 

134 U S Steel Mining Company Llc Wyoming Co WV 

163 Consolidation Coal Co/Rend Lake Mine Jefferson Co IL 

494 Consol Pa Coal Co/Bailey Prep Plt Greene Co PA 

 Nitrogen oxides: Nitrogen oxides (“NOx”) are a group of gases that are known to be 

ground-level ozone and PM2.5 precursors and that include nitrogen dioxide (“NO2”), a 

criteria pollutant for which NAAQS have been established pursuant to Section 109 of the 

 

68 This table includes all coal mines, or operations that fall under SIC code 12, that are reported to release at least 1 

ton/year of VOCs. Data from EPA AirData website, 

http://iaspub.epa.gov/airsdata/adnet.ranking?geotype=us&geocode=usa&geoinfo=us~usa~United+States&pol=VOC

&year=2002&fld=percent&fld=plt_name&fld=addr&fld=county&fld=state&fld=sic&rpp=500&page=2&sort=a7&f

mt= (last visited June 15, 2010). It should be noted that reporting of VOC emissions appears inconsistent at best. 

This may be due to the fact that EPA has not yet developed guidance or policy setting forth procedures or protocol 

for inventorying and reporting VOC emissions from coal mining. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 14 

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Clean Air Act.69 The BLM has noted that NO2 “may cause significant toxicity because of 

its ability to form nitric acid with water in the eye, lung, mucous membranes, and skin,” 

that acute exposure to NO2 “may cause death by damaging the pulmonary system,” and 

that “chronic or repeated exposure to lower concentrations of NO2 may exacerbate preexisting respiratory conditions, or increase the incidence of respiratory infections.”70 

Sources of NOx at coal mines include fugitive emissions from overburden and coal 

blasting events and tailpipe emissions from mining equipment, and point source 

emissions from stationary engines, coal-fired hot water generators, and natural-gas fired 

heaters.71 The formation of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, from blasting operations can be 

especially threatening to public health. As the BLM explains: 

Blasting that is done to assist in the removal of material overlying the coal (the 

overburden) can result in emissions of several products, including NO2, as a result 

of the incomplete combustion of nitrogen-based explosives used in the blasting 

process. When this occurs, gaseous, orange-colored clouds may be formed and 

they can drift or be blown off mine permit areas.72

Orange nitrogen dioxide clouds produced by mining operations can often be observed 

and operators often warn the public of the potential for orange clouds in the Powder 

River Basin. See images on the following page. 

NOx and NO2 emissions from coal mining can be significant. For example, the BLM 

projects NO2 emissions from coal mining operations related to pending lease proposals in 

northeastern Wyoming to be as high as 4,743 tons/year by 2017 at the Black Thunder 

Mine, 1,450 tons/year by 2013 at the Jacobs Ranch Mine, and 2,988 tons/year by 2015 at 

the North Antelope Rochelle Mine.73 The EPA has commented that the NO2 emission 

rates from the Black Thunder Mine “alone are very high and may contribute to visibility 

impairment and ozone formation.”74

The EPA has recognized that NOx emissions from coal mining operations are a major 

heath concern. In comments on the South Gillette Area Coal Lease Applications in the 

Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming, the agency explained: 

EPA is...concerned about the proximity of the mining operation to homes and 

school bus stops. Children may be especially susceptible to the health effects of 

 

69 See U.S. EPA, PRIMARY NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARDS FOR NITROGEN DIOXIDE, FINAL RULE 

(Feb. 9, 2010), available at http://www.epa.gov/ttnnaaqs/standards/nox/fr/20100209.pdf (last viewed June 15, 

2010). 

70 Supra. note 59, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS

at 3-65. 

71 See e.g., supra note 59, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE 

APPLICATIONS at 3-66. 

72 Id. at 3-65. 

73 Id. at 3-70, 3-71, and 3-73. 

74 Supra. note 63 at 1-2. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 15 

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Warning sign posted on portion of Thunder Basin National Grassland, an area open 

to public access, north of State Highway 450 near the Jacobs Ranch Mine in the 

Powder River Basin, Campbell County, Wyoming.75

 

75 Picture taken April 11, 2010 by Jeremy Nichols. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 16 

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Orange nitrogen dioxide cloud produced by blasting at the Jacobs Ranch Mine on 

April 11, 2010 in the Powder River Basin, Campbell County, Wyoming.76

 

76 Picture taken April 11, 2010 by Jeremy Nichols. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 17 

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Sign warning of emissions from blasting posted off County Road 37 near Antelope 

Coal Mine in the Powder River Basin, Converse County, Wyoming.77

 

77 Picture taken April 11, 2010 by Jeremy Nichols. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 18 

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Sign explicitly warning of “orange cloud” from blasting posted on south side of 

State Highway 450 near Black Thunder Mine in the Powder River Basin, Campbell 

County, Wyoming.78

 

78 Picture taken April 11, 2010 by Jeremy Nichols. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 19 

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NO2 and fine particulates. Children have greater exposure to air pollution 

because of their faster breathing rates and the amount of time spent playing 

outdoors. Particulates and NO2 can aggravate asthma, irritate airways, and cause 

coughing and breathing difficulties.79

The EPA has recognized that NOx emissions from coal mining operations are a major 

heath concern. In comments on the South Gillette Area Coal Lease Applications in the 

Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming, the agency explained: 

EPA is ... concerned about the proximity of the mining operation to homes and 

school bus stops. Children may be especially susceptible to the health effects of 

NO2 and fine particulates. Children have greater exposure to air pollution 

because of their faster breathing rates and the amount of time spent playing 

outdoors. Particulates and NO2 can aggravate asthma, irritate airways, and cause 

coughing and breathing difficulties.80

The agency called on the BLM to “detail mitigation and monitoring measures that will be 

undertaken to minimize exposure to particulates and NO2 for children waiting at bus 

stops near the mining areas.”81

As is clear, the coal mining sector is responsible for releasing a number of air pollutants 

in addition to methane that cause or contribute significantly to air pollution that may reasonably 

be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare. 

THE ADMINISTRATOR’S DUTIES UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT 

I. THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS A DUTY TO LIST COAL MINES AS A STATIONARY SOURCE 

CATEGORY. 

 The Administrator has a duty to list new stationary source categories under Section 111 

of the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act states that the Administrator is required to “publish 

(and from time to time thereafter shall revise) a list of categories of stationary sources.” 42 

U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(A). She is required to include any source that “causes, or contributes 

significantly to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or 

welfare.” 42 U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(A). 

 Coal mines, including underground, surface, and abandoned mines, fit within the Clean 

Air Act’s Section 111 definition of “stationary source.” A “stationary source” is defined as “any 

building, structure, facility, or installation which emits or may emit any air pollutant.” 42 U.S.C. 

 

79 Supra note 62 cover letter at 2. 

80 Supra note 62 cover letter at 2. 

81 Id. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 20 

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§ 7411(a)(3).82 Coal mines may include drift tunnels, slope tunnels, shaft tunnels, area surface 

mines, contour surface mines, open-pit surface mines, strip surface mines, and auger surface 

mines, all of which constitute structures, facilities, or installations. Such mines may also include, 

but are not limited to, buildings, structures, facilities, or installations such as ventilation shafts, 

storage piles, crushers, roads, generators, engines, heaters, methane drainage wells, loadout 

operations, dragline operations, belt transfer operations, blasting operations, and reclamation 

activities.83 

EPA recognized coal mines as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in its 

2009 proposed reporting rule, pursuant to recent Appropriations Acts. See Proposed Rule, 

Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases, 74 Fed. Reg. 16,448, 16,553 (Apr. 10, 2009) 

(proposing to add 40 C.F.R. pt. 98, subpt. FF). Although EPA only proposed to cover 

underground mines, environmental groups submitted comments demonstrating the need and 

importance to require reporting for surface mines and abandoned mines also. As a result of 

comments filed, EPA has not yet finalized the reporting rule for coal mines, in October 2009, 

and it is still considering the appropriate way to require reporting from this sector. See Final 

Rule, Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases, 74 Fed. Reg. 56,260, 56,333 (Oct. 30, 2009). 

Coal mines have also received stationary source permits under the Clean Air Act from 

states. For instance, in 2009 the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air 

Pollution Control Division issued a permit to CAM Colorado, LLC for “surface facilities 

supporting underground mining of coal” at the proposed Red Cliff Mine in Mesa County, 

Colorado and to New Elk Coal Company, LLC for “mine ventilation exhaust fans” at the New 

Elk Mine in Las Animas County, Colorado.84 To this end, coal mines are a stationary source 

subject to regulation under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. 

In addition, underground, surface, and abandoned coal mines emit or may emit air 

pollutants. Section 302 of the Clean Air Act defines “air pollutant” generally as “any air 

pollution agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, 

radioactive ... substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air.” 42 

U.S.C. § 7602(g). The EPA has long regulated particulate matter, including PM10 and PM2.5, 

VOCs, including all VOCs regulated under 40 C.F.R. § 51.100(s), and NOx, as air pollutants. 

Methane also fits the definition of air pollutant because it is a gas that is emitted into the air 

when it is released from coal seams buried deep in the earth. Indeed, the Supreme Court has held 

that greenhouse gases, like methane, fit the Clean Air Act’s “sweeping definition of ‘air 

pollutant.’”85 The EPA not only agreed with the Supreme Court in its Final Endangerment 

Finding, stating that “[g]reenhouse gases fit well within this capacious definition.... They are 

 

82 The Clean Air Act also defines a stationary source as “any source of an air pollutant except those emissions 

resulting directly from an internal combustion engine for transportation purposes or from a nonroad engine or 

nonroad vehicle as defined in section 216.” 42 U.S.C. § 7602(z). 

83 See e.g., supra note 58 (noting stationary sources of PM10 at surface mines in the western United States). 

84 See Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division, Construction Permit 

No. 08ME0506F (Nov. 2008), attached as Exh. 12; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air 

Pollution Control Division, Construction Permit No. 09LA0590 (Aug. 20, 2009), attached as Exh. 13.

85 Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497, 528 (2007). 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 21 

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‘without a doubt’ physical chemical substances emitted into the ambient air,”86 but in the past 

has also decided to establish emission standards for methane as an air pollutant under the Clean 

Air Act.87

Finally, underground, surface, and abandoned coal mines cause, or contribute 

significantly to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or 

welfare. We note that the Administrator has stated that the listing of a stationary source category 

under Section 111(b)(1)(A) “requires only a general determination that emissions from the 

category cause or contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.”88 In 

this case, whether the EPA considers the impacts of methane, particulate matter, NOx, or VOCs, 

it is clear that emissions from the category cause or contribute to air pollution that may endanger 

public health or welfare. 

As documented in this petition, underground, surface, and abandoned coal mines release 

methane, a health and safety hazard, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone precursor that, when 

released into the atmosphere, the EPA has declared “may reasonably be anticipated both to 

endanger public health and to endanger public welfare.”89 Additionally, coal mines are likely to 

release particulate matter, which, by its very classification as a criteria pollutant pursuant to 

Section 108 of the Clean Air Act, is recognized by the EPA to “cause or contribute to air 

pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”90 Indeed, 

as documented in this petition, coal mines may cause or contribute to particulate matter air 

pollution in such quantities as to exceed the NAAQS.91 Similarly, coal mines are likely to 

release NOx, which includes NO2, and VOCs, which are considered ozone precursors. Like 

particulate matter, both NO2 and ozone are also criteria pollutants that the EPA has concluded 

“cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public 

health or welfare.” 

II. THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS A DUTY TO ESTABLISH FEDERAL “STANDARDS OF 

PERFORMANCE” FOR NEW AND MODIFIED COAL MINES. 

 Once the Administrator has properly listed coal mines as a category of stationary sources, 

the Clean Air Act requires that the Administrator “publish proposed regulations, establishing 

Federal standards of performance for new sources within such category.” 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(b)(1)(B). The Clean Air Act defines “standard of performance” as “a standard for 

emission of air pollutants which reflects the degree of emission limitation achievable through the 

application of the best system of emission reduction....” 42 U.S.C. § 7441(a)(1). 

 

86 Supra note 1 at 66510 (citing Massachusetts v. EPA, at 529, 532). 

87 Supra note 12. 

88 U.S. EPA, STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE FOR COAL PREPARATION AND PROCESSING PLANTS; FINAL RULE, 74 

Fed. Reg. 51950, 51957 (October 8, 2009). 

89 Supra note 1 at 66497. 

90 See 42 U.S.C. § 7408(a)(1)(A). 

91 Supra note 59. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 22 

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In this case, there are a number of systems of emission reductions to address methane 

emissions from coal mines. It is currently technologically feasible for the EPA to require that 

methane be captured or flared from coal mines instead of allowing methane to be released 

directly into the atmosphere.92 Many mines have already taken steps toward capturing methane 

emissions for economic reasons.93 The EPA listed twenty-three mines with methane drainage 

and recovery systems within the range of 3% - 88% efficiency in Alabama, Colorado, 

Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.94 Of these twenty-three mines, twelve sell recovered 

methane for natural gas energy use and two mines use the methane to heat mine ventilation air 

and to generate onsite power.95 The EPA has estimated that if just the largest gassy underground 

mines captured and recovered all of their methane, the United States could keep 173,700 – 

540,400 metric tons of methane out of the atmosphere each year (the equivalent of at least 

3,647,700 – 11,348,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide).96 Flaring is also an option if capture is 

not technologically feasible. Although flaring occurs at a small number of mines in the United 

States,97 there is a long and safe history of flaring at working coal mines in the United Kingdom 

and Australia. Active mine flaring has been conducted in at least the following working coal 

mines: the United Colliery mine in Australia;98 and in at least five UK Coal collieries.99 At a 

conference sponsored by EPA in St. Louis in September 2007, evidence was presented that 

methane flaring at working coal mines was “state of the art,” and that flaring to dispose of vented 

methane at coal mines was “[s]imple, low cost and reliable to operate” with “[l]ow maintenance 

requirements.”100 Coal mine methane could also be used to generate electricity on-site, or could 

be frozen as LNG and transported by truck to markets at other locations. 

Overall, the EPA estimates that nearly 50% of all of U.S. coal mine methane emissions, 

or more than 1.25 million tons of methane, can be reduced at a zero net cost, while nearly 90% 

can be reduced at a cost of less than $15/ton.101 However, factoring in the health benefits of 

reducing methane as an ozone precursor, the benefit of reducing methane could be as much as 

$240/ton of methane reduced.102

 

92 See e.g. supra notes 30 and 38. 

93 Supra note 38 at 1-4. 

94 Id. 

95 Id. at 1-4 and 3-6. 

96 Id. at 1-4 - 1-5. 

97 See, e.g., J. Liebert, Extracting Value from Coal Mine Methane, Coal Age (June 2009) at 6 (describing “an 

enclosed incineration system to destroy the gob [methane] gas extracted” from an underground coal mine in 

Wyoming), available online at http://www.verdeogroup.com/documents/pdf-coal-age-0609.pdf (last viewed June 

15, 2010). 

98 See U.S. EPA, Coal Methane Outreach Project, 2006 International News (last updated Mar. 28, 2008), attached as

Exh. 14.

99 See United Kingdom’s Coal Authority, Coal Mine Methane Activity Within The UK, Coal Mine Methane 

Operators Activities, attached as Exh. 15.

100 See Harworth Power Ltd., CMM Flaring PowerPoint (Sep. 2007) at 6-26, attached as Exh. 16.

101 Supra note 16 at II-10. 

102 Supra note 22. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 23 

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Similarly, there are a number of systems to address emissions of other harmful air 

pollutants from coal mines. Some examples of particulate matter emission control measures 

currently in use include, but are not limited to: 

 Storing coal in enclosed coal silos or barns; 

 Paving coal mine access roads; 

 Watering or treating with dust suppressant any unpaved roads; 

 Enclosing conveyor transfer points; 

 The use of dust collection baghouses or other controls to reduce emissions from transfer 

points and crushers within processing plants; 

 Fitting out-of-pit conveyors with hoods or otherwise containing emissions; 

 Fitting out-of-pit dump hoppers with water sprays, a baghouse, or other controls; 

 Treating haul roads with dust control chemicals or water; 

 Watering short-term haul roads; and 

 Regularly maintaining haul roads to reduce dust re-entrainment.103 

With regards to NO2, mines have reduced emissions by as much as 75% “through the use of 

borehole liners and changing their blasting agent blends.”104 The EPA has also commented that 

other mitigation measures may be effective at reducing NO2, including reduced blast sizes, 

changed composition of explosive agents, and changed placement of blasting agents.105 Finally, 

any efforts to address methane will most likely also address VOC emissions due to the fact that 

VOCs and methane are often released together from coal mines.106

We request that, concurrent with listing coal mines as a source category in accordance 

with Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, the Administrator propose standards of performance for 

the source category pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(B). 

III. THE ADMINISTRATOR HAS A DUTY TO ESTABLISH FEDERAL “STANDARDS OF 

PERFORMANCE” FOR METHANE EMISSIONS FROM EXISTING COAL MINES. 

 Concurrent with promulgating standards of performance for new and modified coal 

mines, the Clean Air Act requires the Administrator to establish standards of performance for 

 

103 Supra note 59, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS

at 3-60, 3-63. 

104 Id. at 3-75. 

105 Supra note 63 at 2. 

106 See e.g., supra note 16 at III-8. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 24 

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existing coal mines for any designated pollutant. 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d)(1). In accordance with 40 

C.F.R. § 60.21(a), methane would constitute a designated pollutant when released from existing 

coal mines. Not only have air quality criteria not been established for methane, but coal mines 

are not listed as a source category under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act and methane would 

otherwise be regulated under Section 111 if existing coal mines were new coal mines. 

 Accordingly, concurrent with promulgating standards of performance for new and 

modified coal mines, the Administrator has a duty to publish a guidance document setting forth 

an emission guideline “reflecting the application of the best system of emission reduction 

(considering the cost of such reduction) that has been adequately demonstrated for designated 

facilities, and the time within which compliance with emission standards of equivalent 

stringency can be achieved” to ensure methane emissions from existing coal mines are controlled 

through State plans. 

 As explained, there are a number of systems of emission reductions to address methane 

emissions from coal mines, including existing mines. Concurrent with listing coal mines as a 

source category and with establishing standards of performance for new and modified coal 

mines, we therefore request the Administrator publish emission guidelines to ensure States 

develop plans to control methane emissions from existing coal mines pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(d)(1) and 40 C.F.R. § 60.22. 

CONCLUSION 

 Each day that the coal mining industry’s emissions of methane and other harmful air 

pollutants go unregulated, these pollutants are emitted without appropriate, readily-available 

safeguards under the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s recent endangerment finding highlights the 

urgency of regulating greenhouse gases by explaining that this issue is: 

not a close case in which the magnitude of the harm is small and probability, 

great, or the magnitude large and the probability small. In both magnitude and 

probability, climate change is an enormous problem. The greenhouse gases that 

are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of 

the Clean Air Act.107 

Furthermore, the Administrator clearly has a duty to take steps to limit emissions of other 

harmful air pollutants from coal mines, including particulate matter, VOCs, and NOx. 

 Based on the foregoing, Petitioners respectfully request that the EPA: 

(1) List coal mines as a category of stationary sources that emit air pollution which may 

reasonably be anticipated to “endanger public health or welfare” in accordance with 42 

U.S.C. § 7411(b)(1)(A); 

 

107 Supra note 2 at 18904. 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 25 

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(2) Establish federal “standards of performance” for new and modified sources within the 

newly listed stationary source category for coal mines in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 

§ 7411(b)(1)(B); and 

(3) Concurrently establish federal “standards of performance” to address emissions of 

methane from existing facilities within the newly listed stationary source category for 

coal mines in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d)(1) and 40 C.F.R. § 60.22. 

We look forward to your prompt reply, no later than 180 days from today. If you have 

any questions about this petition, please contact Ted Zukoski at Earthjustice (303-996-9622). 

Sincerely, 

Edward B. Zukoski 

Attorney for WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, 

 Environmental Integrity Project, and Sierra Club 

cc: Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, EPA 

 Janet McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, EPA 

 Drew McConville, Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, 

EPA 

 Robert Verchick, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Policy, Economics, and 

Innovation, EPA 

 Ellen Kurlansky, Policy Analyst, Office of Air and Radiation, EPA 

 Dina Kruger, Director, Climate Change Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs, EPA 

 Dr. Pamela Franklin, Director, Coalbed Methane Outreach Program, EPA 

 Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians 

 Kassie R. Siegel, Center for Biological Diversity 

 Eric V. Schaeffer, Environmental Integrity Project 

 Aaron Isherwood, Sierra Club 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 26 

June 16, 2010 

TABLE OF EXHIBITS

Exhibit 1. U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM, GLOBAL CLIMATE 

CHANGE IMPACTS IN THE UNITED STATES 9 (2009). 

Exhibit 2. IPCC, CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: SYNTHESIS REPORT, SUMMARY FOR 

POLICYMAKER (Feb. 2007). 

Exhibit 3. West, J., et al., “Global health benefits of mitigating ozone 

pollution with methane emission controls,” Proceedings of the 

National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 

Exhibit 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – ENERGY INFORMATION 

ADMINISTRATION, ANNUAL COAL REPORT 2007 (2009). 

Exhibit 5. BLM, DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE 

WRIGHT AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS, Wyoming Bureau of 

Land Management (excerpts). 

Exhibit 6. BLM, FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PIT 14 COAL 

LEASE BY APPLICATION, Wyoming Bureau of Land Management 

(excerpts). 

Exhibit 7. USFS, FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT DEER CREEK 

SHAFT AND E SEAM METHANE DRAINAGE WELLS PROJECT, Grand 

Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison National Forest (excerpts). 

Exhibit 8. U.S. EPA, Comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

for West Antelope II Coal Lease Application. 

Exhibit 9. U.S. EPA, Comments on South Gillette Area Coal Lease 

Applications Draft Environmental Impact Statement. 

Exhibit 10. U.S. EPA, Comments on Draft EIS for Wright Area Coal Lease 

Applications. 

Exhibit 11. U.S. EPA, Comments on Proposed Red Cliff Mine Project. 

Exhibit 12. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air 

Pollution Control Division, Construction Permit No. 08ME0506F 

(Nov. 2008). 

Exhibit 13. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air 

Pollution Control Division, Construction Permit No. 09LA0590 

(Aug. 20, 2009). 
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PETITION TO REGULATE METHANE AND OTHER EMISSIONS FROM COAL MINING FACILITIES Page 27 

June 16, 2010 

Exhibit 14. U.S. EPA, Coal Methane Outreach Project, 2006 International 

News. 

Exhibit 15. United Kingdom’s Coal Authority, Coal Mine Methane Activity 

Within The UK, Coal Mine Methane Operators Activities. 

Exhibit 16. Harworth Power Ltd., CMM Flaring PowerPoint (Sep. 2007).