Preliminary work to develop the property is being fought by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance because of cryptobiotic soil concerns, according to a report by the Salt Lake Tribune. Lila Canyon has been owned for years by Robert Murray of Murray Energy, and has spent almost as long in permitting.

The Lila Canyon project, located in the Book Cliffs coal field, holds 50 million tons in reserves and will have 200 staff at prime activity levels. According to the Bureau of Land Management, the first phase of the project could realise recovery of 27Mt.

According to the environmental group, the soil the operation will undermine is formed by bacteria and tiny organisms that create a "crust" on the earth, and regeneration of the growth can take as long as 200 years.

UtahAmerican, however, is anxious to progress on the property's development to establish more jobs and mine more coal in the region, which is also home to Crandall Canyon and the Tower mine which have been idled since earlier this year.

Company project manager Jay Marshall said UtahAmerican wanted to clear the property for construction of its surface facilities, but indicated to the paper that this would not occur until January and would likely take about 18 months to complete. Wildlife restrictions would push the start back to July if the preparation work did not begin by February.

"The company is facing dire times because of the tragic events in August," said company attorney Denise Dragoo of the ambitious time schedule.

"We have soils that are unprotected under any law on one hand weighed against clear, significant and irreparable economic harm on the other," she added in her interview with the SLT, noting that UtahAmerican has proposed an experimental soil mitigation technique.

SUWA attorney Matt Thomas said that regardless of the type of mitigation technique, reclamation of the organisms would take too long.

"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," he told the news service.

A request for comment and additional details on Lila Canyon from UtahAmerican was not returned by press time.

The judge did not indicate when a decision on the issue would be made.

More lay-offs for UtahAmerican workers

A round of lay-offs to impact 52 workers at the company's West Ridge, Tower and Crandall Canyon operations and Wildcat load-out are being called "temporary" by UtahAmerican, which said it would call them back upon the restart of the Tower mine's production.

According to a weekend report in the Salt Lake Tribune, 31 miners will be cut from West Ridge, 11 from Tower, five from Crandall Canyon, and five at Wildcat.

"The lay-offs were necessary in order for the company to conserve cash until the Tower mine is once again in operation," said Murray Energy business development and external affairs vice-president Robert Edward Murray.

"UtahAmerican fully intends to restart the Tower mine in the near future, perhaps in early January 2008, at which time the company will call its laid-off miners back to work."

The company initially laid off 172 miners at Tower, resulting from its plans to idle the complex until additional roof control engineering studies and review of the longwall mining machinery could be completed. That work is still ongoing.

UtahAmerican could not be reached for further comment on this story or on the status of Tower.