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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Denver appeals court says federal agencies were right to allow the continued development of the Lila Canyon Mine in eastern Utah.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance sued to stop UtahAmerican Energy from tapping coal reserves in the Book Cliffs.
The alliance contended the Bureau of Land Management had improperly extended the time frame for developing the leases.
But in a ruling last week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the BLM's decision, the Deseret News reports.
The decision also upholds a lower court ruling.
Justices rejected arguments from the alliance's attorneys that the company should have been required to submit an updated mining plan because so much time had passed since the company first sought drilling permits.
The Interior Department rejected the contention, saying it would have only required a new plan if the previous one had been substantially modified.
UtahAmerican purchased the mining rights from the Intermountain Power Agency in 1999. The project was approved in 2001 by the Interior department. That same year, state regulators approved the company's application for a surface mining permit, which was appealed by the alliance.
Federal coal leases are subject to a 10-year development period. That period actually began in 1995 for the Lila Canyon Mine and production of coal was supposed to have started by 2005.
UtahAmerican sought a federal extension of the deadline, according to the court ruling, in part due to delays caused by the Wilderness Alliance's appeals of the coal mine's development.
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