Rosebud Sidesteps Permit Delays With Scraper Stripping

There are those in the Colstrip, Mont., area who can still remember the opening of the Rosebud mine in 1923. For 35 years it was a steady employer of 80 or 90 residents who produced coal for the railroad. In 1958, though, mining ceased as diesel locomotives supplanted steam engines. The mine was purchased in 1959 by Montana Power, the parent of Western Energy Co., and production resumed in 1968. Long Construction Co. was chosen as operator of the mine equipment. At that time, reserves appeared virtually unlimited. The thick Rosebud seam coursed through alternate sections of railroad holdings and federal land-then came the federal moratorium on coal leasing in 1971. About the time Western Energy completed the special leasing procedure to extend reserves from an existing mine, a new federal monkey wrench was thrown into the works with passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.