Brook mine could be operational as early as fall
RANCHESTER — After years of permitting review and promised timelines that have come and gone, Ramaco Carbon CEO Randall Atkins said Wyoming's first new coal mine in more than four decades could be operational as early as this fall.
But a project Atkins hopes will ”make Sheridan the next Carbon Valley” still concerns Shannon Anderson, staff attorney and organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council. While the Department of Environmental Quality approved a mine permit addressing several concerns of the 100 landowners living within a half mile of the mine, Anderson and the property owners remain concerned whether Ramaco will uphold its end of the bargain.
“I guess our concern, and the concern of many of our landowners, is that this is a company that has completely dismissed their neighbors in every stage of the process so far,” Anderson said. “They’ve never had a public meeting. They’ve never knocked on people’s doors to ask for their feedback. Even now, it still feels like they’re dismissing a lot of the concerns. That history doesn’t give us a lot of faith that they will suddenly start respecting the neighbors now. But all we can do is wait and watch what happens.”
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