Cloud Peak

The mine is owned by a Navajo corporation that became the third largest U.S. coal producer when it took over bankrupt Cloud Peak Energy three years ago.

Navajo Transitional Energy Co. assumed tax liability of the Spring Creek Mine when it bought its parent company Cloud Peak Energy in a bankruptcy sale in 2019.

Considine’s past work also includes giving expert testimony on behalf of the coal company Murray Energy in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as conducting research paid for under a consulting agreement with the coal company Cloud Peak Energy.

A federal magistrate judge issued similar recommendations in 2019, but the case had been put on hold after former owner Cloud Peak Energy went bankrupt.

The publicly owned land that’s in dispute was leased by Cloud Peak Energy in 2007.