The federal
leases would expand the existing Caballo and Belle
Ayr strip mines, already the sixth and ninth largest
coal mines in the U.S., respectively.
The lawsuit, filed by WildEarth Guardians, the Sierra Club, and Defenders of Wildlife, targets decisions by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the U.S. Interior Department, to auction off the Belle
Ayr North and Caballo West
coal lease tracts, which together include almost 352 million tons of
coal.