Operator Ark Land Company, a subsidiary of Arch Coal, applied to the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service for permission to expand its lease by 20 acres.

The mine straddles the Mati-La Sal and Fishlake national forests and was required by federal law to be approved by the BLM, which owns the coal on the federal lease and is charged with selling it, and the Forest Service, which owns the surface and is charged with protecting resources like fish and wildlife and clean water.

The Forest Service’s environmental impact statement said that Ark Land Company requested the lease modification and said the 20-acre expansion would add approximately 22,000 tons of recoverable coal to its lease, as well as allowing access to another 400,000 tons of coal that was currently inaccessible in the existing lease.

The Fishlake National Forest Supervisor Allen Rowley approved the expansion in January, who concluded that the expansion would not result in surface disturbance and so a finding of no significant impact, or FONSI, was issued.

The Utah Environmental Congress, the Centre of Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust appealed the decision, challenging the agencies’ environmental impact statement and record of decision and criticising the lack of opportunity for public comment.

According to a statement released by the UEC since the challenge, the Forest Service has withdrawn its consent to the BLM, citing its sensitive species policy which prohibits actions likely to impact threatened or endangered species.

“This is great news for south Manti’s sage grouse population that would have been lost,” said UEC’s Kevin Mueller.

“The new power lines, traffic and huge ventilation facilities would have been so harmful that the decision we challenged admittedly would have contributed to formal Endangered Species Act listing.”

Sufco exports most of its coal mined to Japan and last year was refused permission to lease 6,175 acres to accommodate another proposed expansion after UEC and other groups raised various objections.

“This longwall coal mine recently caused a permanent loss of already scarce surface water in North Fork Box creek. Wildlife relied on that water up on the plateau,” said Grand Canyon Trust’s Mary O’Brien.

“The mine must not continue to degrade the forest and risk dewatering our high country; the coal will be shipped abroad in under 10 years, but we’ll need the water forever.”

UEC said the appellants have received letters and word from Forest Service that prior to any new decisions there will be a supplemental analysis and opportunity for cooperation and formal public input.

In what seems to be an ironic twist, last week the Utah Board of Oil, Gas and Mining awarded the Sufco mine with high honor for "environmental improvement".

Sufco voluntarily developed gravity-fed pipelines to distribute scarce water resources for livestock and wildlife.

Sufco has maintained a perfect environmental compliance rate since 2006. It has been honored with five Utah earth day awards since 2000.

“Environmental responsibility is a core value at Arch,” Arch Western Bituminous Group president Gene DiClaudio said.

“We're honored to be recognized by the state for environmental excellence twice in 2013.”