Former ranch hand Pat Thiele has spent years fighting a losing battle against a massive coal mine creeping underground toward his central Montana property.
Mine owner Signal Peak Energy sits atop a billion-ton reserve of coal in the Bull Mountains, not far from where Thiele lives. The mine has long seemed poised to benefit from President Donald Trump's pledges to revive the faltering coal industry — vows the president has renewed vigorously in his second term with new orders to deregulate mining. A Republican tax cut bill making its way through Congress contains a special carve-out provision allowing the mine to expand.
