By now, we hope you’ve heard about the fight Bull Mountain residents are facing against Signal Peak Energy, the owner of Montana’s only underground coal mine. Signal Peak’s serial criminal behavior is so outlandish, it would be hard to believe if not for court documents and law enforcement reports detailing everything from cocaine trafficking to faked kidnapping to money laundering.
Steve says he and his family, who have ranched alongside coal companies for generations, “try to be honest and forthright” while maintaining “respectful relationships with the workers earning a living for their families.”
Sadly, this courtesy between mine workers and ranchers is not upheld by Signal Peak’s executives, who instead embody a toxic culture of disregard and disrespect for others.
Law enforcement investigations document the mine’s owners exchanging messages with one other, bragging about a $60 million criminal bribery scheme. The profane language they use to describe their conquests over others is an indication of what Bull Mountain residents have to deal with. “F*** ANYBODY WHO AIN’T US” is the moto they used within a graphic that superimposed their faces onto Mt. Rushmore according to court records.
Apparently, this is “their version of the golden rule” Steve laments. “These are not the type of the people we want doing business in our state.”
Click here to read Steve’s oped.