By Gary Harmon

May 25, 2016 - Completion of environmental review of the coal-mining exception to the Colorado Roadless Rule, due this spring, has been pushed back to the fall, said U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., who said he is pressing for an explanation.

The Office of Management and Budget sought a delay in the release of the court-ordered environmental study, calling it a “significant regulatory action,” the Forest Service said.

The study was ordered after environmental organizations sued to halt the expansion of the West Elk Mine near Somerset, saying the federal government failed to take into account the effect of burning coal from the mine on the climate.

“The Forest Service and cooperating agencies are finalizing the federal review and notification processes required for rulemaking,” the Forest Service said.

The management and budget office noted also that the rule could “raise novel legal or policy issues,” but it did not find the final rule to be economically significant, the Forest Service said.

The Forest Service had proposed reinstating the North Fork coal-mining exception to the Colorado Roadless Rule. The exception would allow Arch Coal to extend the West Elk Mine beneath the roadless area.

The delay in the environmental study could endanger more jobs in the North Fork, which has seen two mines close recently,

Tipton was trying to set up a meeting with Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell and the head of the OMB, Shaun Donovan, to discuss “a more expedient resolution,” Tipton said. “This decision is far too important for the administration to brush under the rug until after Election Day. People’s jobs are at stake.”

WildEarth Guardians, which brought the suit originally, both in the North Fork and in northwest Colorado, said the involvement seemed to underscore how important it is for the Obama administration to ensure that rules affecting industries such as coal mining are followed.

“They’re just wanting to make sure it gets the kind of scrutiny it needs,” WildEarth Guardians spokesman Jeremy Nichols said.

The state of Colorado, which supported the coal-mining exception to the roadless rule, was inquiring with the federal agencies.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of it,” said John Swartout, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s point man on rural economic issues.

The exception for the North Fork coal mines has been supported by Democrats and Republicans, including Hickenlooper and former governors Bill Owens and Bill Ritter, a Republican and Democrat, respectively.