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Colorado Climate Action Plan at 10. Thus, even a small increase in greenhouse gas emissions in
<br />Colorado is significant because it makes it more difficult for the State to achieve the Action
<br />Plan's ambitious goals.
<br />In its environmental impact statement evaluating the surface impacts of the Mine
<br />expansion, the U.S Forest Service wrote that "[m]ethane is over 20 times more effective in
<br />trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 100-year period." Project FEIS at 60, excerpts
<br />attached as Exhibit 1. It also calculated that the project would release 7,000,000 cubic feet of
<br />methane daily, and contribute the equivalent of 960,960 to 1,131,200 metric tons of CO2 into the
<br />atmosphere annually. Id. This one project would therefore increase the greenhouse gas
<br />emissions resulting from fossil fuel combustion in Colorado each year by a full 1.3%. Id.
<br />The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), in its comments to the Project EIS,
<br />noted both the significant nature of the Mine's methane releases and the fact that proven
<br />technology exists to capture it. EPA noted that even before this project, the "West Elk Mine was
<br />the fourth largest emitter of methane from an underground coal mine in the US and is one of only
<br />12 mines in the US that employs a degasification system but does not capture the drainage
<br />methane." See letter of L. Svoboda, EPA to C. Richmond, USFS (Aug. 7, 2007) at 5 ("EPA
<br />Comments on Project") (emphasis added), attached with additional materials at Exhibit 4. The
<br />EPA stated: "We think that this indicates that this mine's methane emissions are substantial
<br />relative to other underground US coal mines." Id.
<br />Global warming presents a recognized threat to fish, wildlife, and other environmental
<br />and social values. See IPCC's Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment
<br />Report at 622, 629-6304. In Colorado, for example, the range of the pika, a diminutive alpine
<br />relative of the hare, is shrinking, almost certainly as a result of the increase in global
<br />temperatures over the last century. American robins have been found to arrive, and marmots
<br />have been found to end hibernation, earlier in the spring at a site in the West Elk Mountains.
<br />Such seasonal changes place wildlife at risk and are anticipated to increase as the climate warms.
<br />Inouye, et al. at 1631-1633.5
<br />Global warming has also reduced available freshwater resources in the Rocky Mountain
<br />region and is likely to leave the region with even less water in the coming decades. IPCC's
<br />Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report at 621-622, 627. There is
<br />concern that climate change-related drought coupled with a lack of available unappropriated
<br />water in Colorado, could lead to "shutting off half of the water which is now used by the major
<br />Y Field, C.B., L.D. Mortsch„ M. Brklacich, D.L. Forbes, P. Kovacs, J.A. Patz, S.W.
<br />Running and M.J. Scott, 2007: North America. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and
<br />Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
<br />Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van
<br />der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 617-652.
<br />5 David W. Inouye, Billy Barr, Kenneth B. Armitage, and Brian D. Inouye, Climate
<br />change is affecting altitudinal migrants and hibernating species, PNAS, Feb 2000; 97: 1630 -
<br />1633
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