Simplot mine expansion, seen as Yellowstone threat, blocked by court

A federal appeals court has temporarily halted the expansion of a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho that opponents say would damage roadless areas near Yellowstone National Park. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that U.S. District Judge Mikel Williams failed to consider whether logging and topsoil removal during expansion of the J.R. Simplot Co.-owned Smoky Canyon phosphate mine would cause irreparable harm to the site. The mine has supplied about 1.5 million tons of phosphate ore a year to the company's Don plant in Pocatello, where it is converted into fertilizer. But company officials have said the current site will likely be played out by 2010. Last June the Bush administration approved a plan to allow the mine to expand into roadless areas of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, about 100 miles south of Yellowstone. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition sued last fall, contending the mine has historically sent large amounts of naturally occurring selenium into local waters, which has poisoned or caused birth defects in wildlife and livestock. The environmental groups say expanding the mine would create a major environmental disturbance and that the decision has not had adequate scientific review...AP

They are protecting roadless areas at all cost, so they can eventually be declared wilderness.