Dakota Westmoreland's Beulah Mine would be expanded by 240 acres under a coal lease modification from the Bureau of Land Management.

A draft environmental assessment for the modification has been released and is open to written comment through July 17.

The BLM proposes to lease the coal acreage to Dakota Westmoreland for mining from 2010 to 2015 as part of a much larger lease area.

The modification area is seven miles southwest of Beulah and contains about 1.85 million tons of recoverable coal reserves.

The environmental assessment document is available from the BLM's North Dakota field office, by calling Angela Wetz at 227-7741. It also is on the BLM's Web site at www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/north_dakota_field.html.