"Environmental groups had opposed expanding a Montana mine previously caught up in allegations of cocaine trafficking and the faked kidnapping of an executive." 

"The Trump administration on Friday greenlighted the expansion of a scandal-hit underground coal mine in Montana, one of the nation’s largest, cutting short a federal environmental review and putting into action a key element of President Trump’s plan to revive America’s coal industry.

In the past, the mine has been embroiled in allegations involving bribery, cocaine trafficking, firearms violations and the faked kidnapping of an executive.

The administration’s decision would extend the life of the Bull Mountain coal mine, which employs 250 people outside Billings, by nine years, the Interior Department said. It would allow the mine’s operator, Signal Peak Energy, to mine nearly 60 million tons of coal, mostly for export to Asia.

“This is what energy leadership looks like,” Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary, said in a statement. He said Mr. Trump’s declaration, in January, of a national energy emergency “is allowing us to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America’s future through energy independence and strategic exports.”"

Hiroko Tabuchi reports for the New York Times June 6, 2025. [2]