Activists Fight Colorado Mine, and the Forest Service, over Methane Emissions. By Anna Haislip, Denver Post, April 29, 2008. "Conservation groups Monday filed an appeal with the U.S. Forest Service regional office to block a plan allowing a Gunnison County [Colorado] coal mine to release methane gas. The environmentalists contend the West Elk Mine northeast of Paonia is planning to release enough gas to heat 35,000 homes for 12 years. 'It seems like the Forest Service is squandering methane,' said Jeremy Nichols, the director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action. The environmental groups want the Forest Service to consider either capturing or flaring the gas rather than just releasing it into the atmosphere. The latest decision filed in March by Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest supervisor Charlie Richmond still rejects venting alternatives, Nichols said... In August 2007, [EPA] noted that the mine was the fourth largest emitter of methane from an underground coal mine in the U.S. and one of only 12 in the country that does not capture vented methane for use or sale."
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