The company, which also co-owns the Crandall Canyon mine, says an order could be devastating.
At its core, the dispute before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, comes down to this: Should preparatory work on the mine be halted to protect tiny organisms that grow on the soil?
Lawyers for UtahAmerican said the company, owned by controversial industry leader Robert Murray, is already reeling since the August collapse of its Crandall Canyon mine, which entombed six miners, killed three rescuers and prompted the temporary closure of its Tower Mine.
"The company is facing dire times because of the tragic events in August," said Denise Dragoo, attorney for UtahAmerican. It wants to move on Lila Canyon so it can create jobs and begin to produce coal.
But Steve Bloch, attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the company has spent years trying to get Lila Canyon permitted, and there shouldn't be a rush to proceed without assurances the work won't harm the vegetation and cryptobiotic soil.
Cryptobiotic soil is formed by bacteria, lichens and other tiny organisms that grow on the earth and create a crunchy crust on much of the land in the Southwest United States. It can take some of the cryptobiotic growth more than 200 years to regenerate if it is damaged.
"We have soils that are unprotected under any law on one hand weighed against clear, significant and irreparable economic harm on the other," Dragoo said. The company is proposing an experimental technique to mitigate damage to the soil.
"Whether the mitigation plan works or not, it is unlikely it will be restored to its original state, and if it does happen, we will all be long gone," said Matt Thomas, an attorney for SUWA.
Kimball will rule on SUWA's request for an injunction soon.
The Lila Canyon mine, located on the west slope of the Book Cliffs, south of Price, is one of the last high-quality coal reserves in the state, UtahAmerican said. It is in an area identified as having potential wilderness characteristics, but is not a congressionally designated wilderness area.
Like other Utah mines, the Lila Canyon coal seam reaches depths of 2,500 feet, but there would only be longwall mining done underground, not retreat mining - the type of mining done at Crandall Canyon where coal supports are cut away causing a roof to fall.
The Bureau of Land Management estimates there are 27 million tons of coal that could be recovered in the mine's first phase and UtahAmerican project manager Jay Marshall said there could be up to 52 million tons recoverable in later phases.
Marshall said the company wants to start clearing the land to build the surface facilities at the entrance of the mine, but it would likely be January before work could start and take at least 18 months to complete.
If the surface work doesn't begin before February, restrictions to protect eagles, antelope and bighorn sheep habitat would push the start back to July.
Ray Petersen, public lands director for Emery County, said in an affidavit that the mine would help the "desperate economic situation in Emery County." Lila would employ 220 miners when it is fully operational, although just a few dozen would do the preparatory work.
The company would pay about 9 percent in royalties on the mined coal, half of which would go to state, with 40 percent of that going to Emery County.
In addition to the argument over protecting cryptobiotic soil, SUWA argued that UtahAmerican's leases had expired and that the Interior Department failed to give adequate consideration to the mine plan. UtahAmerican countered the deadline on the leases was suspended while SUWA challenged the mine plan, and that Interior acted appropriately.
