Utah judge revives lawsuit over Clinton action against coal

Washington (Platts Coal Trader) 21 January 2004

Admitting that a 1997 lawsuit has languished too long, U.S. District Judge Dee Benson has given new life to a protest over the 1996 creation by President Clinton of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The 1.7-million-acre monument holds vast coal reserves, which are considered the future of the Utah coal industry when the coal in the current mining areas runs out within 10-20 years. When Clinton created the monument, there were even rumors flying through the conservative talk radio circuit that he was responding to lobbying from the Indonesian coal industry, which supposedly wanted this coal off the future Pacific Rim market.