Jewell vows to meet court deadline, avoid Colowyo mine shutdown

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell insisted over the weekend that she and other federal authorities are “doing everything we can” to stop a shutdown of the Colowyo coal mine, which could include a request for more time to finish a court-ordered review. Jewell squeezed in a meeting on the mine’s future late Friday with a dozen northwest Colorado officials and congressional staffers, telling them that she feels confident that her department will be able to complete an environmental review by the Sept. 6 deadline. “I have a team of people working hard on it and they’re telling me they think they can get it across the finish line,” said Jewell after Saturday’s dedication of the Browns Canyon National Monument. If not, she said she believes U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson will grant the Office of Surface Mining more time to finish the National Environmental Policy Act review on the eight-year-old mine-expansion permit...more