San Juan Mine
San Juan coal mine is located 25 kilometers west of Farmington, New Mexico and is operated by San Juan Coal Company, a subsidiary of New Mexico Coal, which in turn is wholly owned by BHP Billiton. The mine produces close to 7 million short tons of coal annually. It was created to replace the San Juan and La Plata surface mines. It supplies the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico.
BHP Billiton states that the mine, which employs 576 people, "consists of an underground mine accessed via the high wall of the now closed open cut mine ... The underground mine is a single longwall operation. Reclamation of the closed surface mines will continue for three years."
The San Juan Mine released more than 600,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2012, according to EPA records.
Under new guidelines released in 2010, mines that release more than 100,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalent are required to obtain a Clean Air Act Title V permit. The permit also requires them to disclose various air pollution releases.
A reporting permit was issued in December 2013 to BHP Billiton for the mine - among the first ever proposed for a coal mine. The permit does not currently require any controls in emissions, but offers more transparency and greater scrutiny of mine releases, and helps environmental groups ensure company compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Fire Breaks out at San Juan Mine
On September 10, 2011 an underground fire broke out in the San Juan Mine, at which point the mine was evacuated by miners. BHP Billiton believed they had was attempting to confirm that an underground coal fire that began three days earlier at San Juan Mine was extinguished.
"We are progressing in a methodical and cautious manner," Norman Benally, BHP Billiton New Mexico Coal spokesman, said in a prepared statement. Nobody was injured during the fire.
In December 2009, the Sierra Club issued notice of their intent to sue San Juan Coal Company for contaminating the groundwater near the San Juan mine. The Sierra Club alleges that more than 40 million tons of coal ash and sludge have been illegally dumped into unlined pits, resulting in contamination of nearby waterways and wells.
- Owner: San Juan Coal Company
- Parent company: BHP Billiton
- Location: 25 km west of Farmington, New Mexico
- GPS coordinates: 36.801262 N, 108.431025 W
- Annual Production: 6,898,040 short tons
- Type of coal:
- Mine type: underground
- Number of employees: 576
Articles and resources
Related SourceWatch articles
- BHP Billiton's coal interests
- Coal and jobs in the United States
- Coal phase-out
- Headquarters of U.S. coal mining companies
- Global list of coal mining companies and agencies
- New Mexico and coal
- Proposed coal mines
To see a listing of coal mines in a particular state, click on the map:
- “New Mexico Coal”, BHP Billiton site, accessed May 2009.
- BHP Billiton, "New Mexico Coal", BHP Billiton website, accessed June 2010.
- Manuel Quiñones, "New EPA permitting system moves forward haltingly for coal mines," E&E, December 5, 2013.
- "San Juan Mine fire may be extinguished" Chuck Slothowever, Daily Times, September 13, 2011.
- "Environmental group plans to sue over coal ash at San Juan mine", Marjorie Childress, The New Mexico Independent, December 29, 2009.